


Wings of the Damned

by Sapphirewyren



Series: Winds of Change [3]
Category: Hellsing
Genre: Alucard - Freeform, Fanfiction, Integra - Freeform, Manga, hellsing - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-09-22 11:06:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 37,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9605237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sapphirewyren/pseuds/Sapphirewyren
Summary: The Vatican employs Dr. Lazarus Thorton to bring Enrico Maxwell back to life in order to restore the Iscariot Organization to deal with Italy's Chimera problem. But after learning of the Catholic Church's policy of toleration of all walks of life, Enrico believes that the Church poses a bigger problem to Italy, than Chimera. Rated M. No pairings. Part 2 of Winds of Change series.





	1. Here Comes the CIA

Wings of the damned

Sapphirewyren

Chapter 1: Here comes the CIA

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing**

**Author’s Note: I have an early Christmas gift for my reader(s)! Part 2 of Winds of Change. It will probably take me longer to upload chapters due to the fact that now I am writing them on paper and then typing them. And every time I get to writing I can get a little carried away and end up with a ton load of pages. So enjoy the next installment of the series and as always Review, Favorite and Follow.**

**Suit:** [ **http://i.imgur** **dot** **com/UyJHdLn** **dot** **jpg** ](http://i.imgurdotcom/UyJHdLndotjpg)

Langley, Virginia, USA CIA Headquarters

            Director Camille Douglas gave an exasperated sigh as she hung up the phone. For a few minutes she stared outside her office window at the rain as it poured. Outside her window sill several birds played in the downpour. Director Douglas wished for a minute that she was one of the birds. She had just gotten off the phone with an old friend Ira Doherty; chief of police in the NYPD and the conversation she just had was not a pleasant one. The reason for her call to the chief was to find out some kind of information about the director of the Hellsing Organization; Integra Hellsing. The CIA was searching for Dr. Lazarus Thorton and his last run in was with Hellsing. Director Douglas wanted to know everything there was to know about the Englishwoman. What made Hellsing tick, what would be a sure way of making her answer her questions. However the things that Doherty told her Douglas sounded like a nightmare and were not at all reassuring. Apparently this Hellsing woman, though a good leader, preferred to do things her way, which did not always prove to be normal or even legal. This did not sit well with the CIA director, who preferred people did things _her_ way. Also the other bit of news was that Hellsing’s methods proved to be barbaric at worse, for example her torturous ‘interrogation’ with a human-turned-freak named Zeke Taylor. The director walked into the squad room, where her most elite squad of the Black Night special forces sat.

The Black Night special forces to the United States; growing monster problem, also the snub of Hellsing passing them by on what could be called her world tour, due to Integra’s grudge against an idiot FBI director calling her ‘four eyes’. Black Night was charged with exterminating all monsters that would threaten the country and its allies if they needed help. However the special task force was only months into its new job and so lack of experience was its main weak point. This particular squad consisted of six members, Captain Daniel Bach; the leader, expert tracker and hunter and a compassionate leader who expected nothing but perfection from his team. He also preferred to be armed with as much knowledge and preparation before heading out into any situation.

Second Lieutenant Beau Bowman was the demolitions experts which contradicted his calm nature. The Louisiana native always had some story or anecdote about his childhood and his grandma’s cooking, especially her gumbo. The man was a giant of 6’6, but as lovable as a teddy bear.

Second Lieutenant Jonathan Grayson was the team’s intelligence officer and tech head. He supplied the squad with any information that was needed and claimed there was no computer he couldn’t hack. That was until he tried to find information on Hellsing’s director. This was not one of his proudest moments.

Second Lieutenant Meredith Josephs was the team’s medic and a graduate of Cornell Medical University. She made sure that everyone on the team was in full health to the point of sounding like their mother. Meredith was a big supporter of the group of scientists that were right now working on a cure or some kind of reversal of those who were turned into Chimera by Dr. Thorton.

First Lieutenant Julie “Jules” Harris was second in command of the squad and the team’s sniper. She was an excellent marksman and not the talkative type. Jules was methodical and analytical and like Captain Bach, she preferred to be informed, though she didn’t mind the shoot first ask questions later tactic. Jules was also never without a firearm nearby.

Second Lieutenant Lawrence Derekson was the newest member to the team and the class clown. He also made sure that everyone’s weapons were up to the strict standards of Black Night. Lawrence made a hobby out of drawing maps and checking out girls, although not in that order. The blonde also had a strong hate for haircuts, but you couldn’t tell by the required military buzzcut he now sported, though he was thinking of getting a Mohawk.

            Captain Bach flipped through all two pages of the folder that was supposed to contain information on Integra Hellsing and the Hellsing organization. The lack of information on the organization and its mysterious leader did not leave the captain feeling very prepared. “There’s next to nothing about the Hellsing Organization, except what they do. There isn’t even a birth certificate for its leader. Actually, there in NOTHING about her” exclaimed Grayson “You sure she’s real?”

“Yes, I’m sure she’s real” sighed Douglas. On the screen there was not even a picture of the leader. Grayson had tried to hack into Hellsing computers, but their defenses proved to be top notch with a nasty twist of spewing digital data eating worms to the hackers stupid enough to get caught. Grayson cursed as he was locked out again with the threat of blacking out all of the CIA’s computer system if he persisted. Jules looked over his shoulder; “I don’t know much about computers, I’m pretty sure that’s not supposed to happen.”

“I know that” growled Grayson “This Hellsing must have some serious stuff, no one locks me out.”

“Maybe she got a whole team of black hats sitting around waiting for moments like this” said Beau.

“Why not just drop in and say hello?” suggested Jules “According to Chief Doherty, this Hellsing person is used to being in control.” Director Douglas remembered something that Doherty said; “She is very intelligent and knows it. If she can control a situation, she will and she’ll play you like a flute. You can be certain that will have a back-up plan and most likely won’t listen to what you say, especially one lack knowledge of the situation at hand.”

Jules’ idea of dropping in on Hellsing without notice was mischievously funny and the director really wanted to see the look on the Hellsing commander’s face by the impromptu visit. Of course, there was a professional reason as well. The CIA would collaborate with MI6 to find Doctor Lazarus Thorton and would question Hellsing about him and his whereabouts. It was no secret that Hellsing was also looking for the crooked scientist. Because of his experimentations, Chimera ran rampart throughout England, well used to. It had been a full year since Integra became leader of the Hellsing Organization again and the Chimera numbers had been reduced drastically. “What do you think Hellsing would do if they catch Dr. Thorton?” asked Beau. “Hopefully turn him over to us, since all governments are on alert that if the good doctor is captured that he is to be turned over to the US, seeing that he is a citizen of the US” said Director Douglas. Captain Bach stood up; “Okay guys, we have a surprise visit to make, so wheels up in twenty.”

Once on the plane bound for London, Douglas informed the team that two agents from MI6, Natalie Wordworth and Thomas Crabtree would be their liaison while in England. If they needed anything, those two would provide. As the captain and director sat in the front of the plane speaking in quiet tones, the rest of the squad took turns guessing why the director of the CIA would agree to fly all the way to London just to ask a couple questions which could be easily answered on the plane.

“I’m guessing it was all that shit Doherty told her” whispered Derekson. Lawrence had only been in the squad for a few months, so he was constantly getting teased by the veteran members. His latest remark earned him a couple of outright chuckles. “If you haven’t noticed, everything Doherty said made it sound like the boss lady should be afraid of this Hellsing person. What the hell was her name?” said Jules.

“If you haven’t noticed, Jules the part where the cops said she carved out some dude’s beating heart out of his chest” retorted Lawrence.

“He saying to be cautious, that’s all” said Meredith.

“Sounds like be afraid to me” sighed Lawrence. “I should know, my mom is also an intimidating woman.” The squad laughed again, but Lawrence shrugged his shoulders; “Laugh all you want, but if you met her, you’d be pissing your pants.”

“Ok, if this woman is the big bad wolf, why would the boss lady go and see her?” asked Grayson.

“Maybe she wants to see for herself, you know see if Doherty was exaggerating.”

Jules leaned back in her seat; “Either way this ought to be a damn fun show.”

“Seeing as you suggested it”; laughed Beau.

 

**Hellsing Manor**

Integra stared at the wanted poster of Dr. Lazarus Thorton, something she had been doing for the last half hour. The rat bastard had been silent for months now. Not a peep or any new science projects or lab made monsters. The Chimera were on the verge of extinction at least in England anyway. For some reason, while other people would be happy, this gave the Hellsing commander a sense of foreboding. Just then Philip entered the office; “Sir, our intelligence has just received word that the director of the CIA Camille Douglas and a squad of special forces called Black Night are on a place to London at this very moment.”

“They want information on Dr. Thorton.”

“I had better go and put some tea on then.”

“That won’t be necessary, they won’t be staying long.”

“Shall I tell them, they are expected?”

“And ruin my fun? No, they want to play this game, I’ll be happy to oblige them.”

 

**Heathrow International Airport**

When the US agents landed, there were the two MI6 agents waiting for them, with a large black van nearby. After loading their bags into the trunk. Thomas Crabtree, a tall man with smiling green eyes and cropped red hair, shook each of their hands; “Welcome to England on this fine evening.” His upbeat personality was contagious, as the Black Night squad grinned back at him as they introduced themselves. “Natalie and I will be happy to help you in any way we can.”

“Well we would like to get to the Hellsing Organization’s Headquarters right away” stated Douglas.

“Ok, I’ll call ahead” said Agent Wordworth. But Director Douglas stopped her; “No, that’s fine.”  The female MI6 agent looked confused; “Are you sure, you want to stop by unannounced?” The CIA director nodded; “We need some very important information and I would rather not here any rehearsed bullshit.”

“I don’t think that Sir Int….”

“It makes no difference what she would and wouldn’t do. This way I will know if she tries to withhold anything from us.”

Natalie undid and redid her brown hair in a tight bun, a strange but sure sign that she was nervous. She had met Sir Integra on several occasions, as Hellsing and MI6 worked together to keep an eye on the ‘citizen vampire’ and those encounters were pretty nerve wracking.one never knew what might set Integra off, but Natalie was sure showing up without notice was one of them. As the van made its way to Hellsing, they passed several buildings which had the Hellsing logo; to which Derekson would ask’ “Are we there yet?” This gained him disapproving looks from Captain Bach and Douglas and some exasperated sighs from everyone else. “What? I saw a flag that said Helsing on it, didn’t know there were so many buildings with the same name.”

“When you get there, make sure to leave all weapons in the van, they are not allowed on the premises unless you are an employee of Hellsing.” said Agent Wordworth.

“Figures” mumbled Jules.

“Also, you are to address her as ‘Sir Hellsing’, not ‘miss’, ‘mrs’, ‘madam’, ‘ma’am’ and certainly not ‘young lady’. The last guy to address her as ‘young lady’, her butler had to clean him off the floor.” Said Agent Crabtree.

“You’re making that up” retorted Grayson.

“I wish I was” sighed Agent Crabtree. Agent Wordworth elbowed the redhead; “Eyes on the road. And leave the horror stories for later.”

Captain Bach glanced over at Director Douglas to see if he could read her expression, it was blank, as he expected. Camille Douglas did not get to where she was at balking at a couple of stories. If necessary, she would be proven to be just as tough as Integra Hellsing. Shortly they arrived at the Hellsing Headquarters. They looked out the windows of the van, instead of a modern building, there sat a sprawling mansion made of windows and concrete. Grayson looked at the MI6 agents suspiciously; “Are you sure this, is it?” The agents replied with a nod of their heads. As the CIA disembarked Agent Crabtree called out; “Enjoy your stay, mates, we’ll be here when you get back.”

“There is no need to sound so happy” muttered Jules.

“They’re just glad they don’t have to face Sir Hellsing” said Meredith.

As foretold by the MI6 agents, the CIA personnel were frisked and very thoroughly at that. By the time everyone was allowed through the gates they had strange sense of being violated. Anything that could be used as a weapon was taken, including Derekson’s lucky Spiderman pen and that didn’t even have a point or ink in it. They were escorted to the door where they were greeted by a slender man in a butler’s uniform, with salt and pepper hair. “Welcome to the Hellsing Organization, I am Philip Dalton, head butler. I will show you to Sir Hellsing’s office. Please follow me.” As the CIA director and spec ops soldiers followed Philip through the grand mansion, their heads might as well have been on a swivel, as they tried to take in all the magnificence of the old house. “So how old is this place anyway? 100 years? 200 years?” marveled Beau. “It is over 500 years” answered Philip “Nearing 600. This house has been under attack numerous times and it still stands. A true testament of its time.” Of course, renovation and stronger material was also helpful. As they neared their destination, a blonde young lady wearing a black and red uniform walked past the group. When she was out of earshot, Grayson and Derekson grinned at each other; “Did you see the size of those tits?”

“Yeah, damn I wonder if they are real.” The two idiot soldiers were so busy laughing, it took a while before they realized that everyone was looking at them. The butler’s green eyed glare was especially nasty; “While you are here, you will not refer to any of the Hellsing staff in such a crass manner!” Director Douglas made a mental note to herself to have a talk with those two when they returned to the US. That talk would include desk duty and possible suspension without pay. The last thing she needed was to be embarrassed in front of a woman she didn’t know.

Why couldn’t Americans be more quiet? Integra could practically hear them stomping through her hallways. And judging that Philip, who was usually quiet, had to raise his voice meant, one of those idiots said or did something stupid. From where she sat on the sofa, as the group came into her office, Integra could see the looks of stupor on their faces as they took in the grandeur of her office. That was always satisfying. Philip then whispered to her about two of the soldier’s remark about Seras breasts, this was then relayed to large white tiger lying at Integra’s feet; who gave a nasty snarl, while the Hellsing commander settled for giving an icy glare to the two offending soldiers. Who had the decency to look frightened, at either the tiger or the commander, it didn’t matter to Integra. How some people manage to piss her off before she even met them, she will never know, it must be a gift. Integra made no effort to get up and greet her visitors, after all she already knew what they wanted. They just made the stupid mistake of walking into the lion’s den. They had no idea how lucky they were they were, that Alucard was not on a mission to deal with several vampires that were lurking around a primary school. If he had heard, what Grayson and Derekson had said about Seras, the Black Night squad would need to find two soldiers to replace them. The director of the CIA looked miffed that Integra won’t even trying to be polite, well too bad. But the commander had to give her credit, when Douglas made her way towards where she was sitting, despite the bull sized tiger next to her. Most people went in the opposite direction of Sam, when she was in that form. But right now, Integra was not dealing with her. The Hellsing motioned for Greyson and Derekson to step forward, which they promptly; “I find you two sorry excuses for men, revolting. I can see why you two to bed alone and it’s certainly not by choice. If you see the need to find entertainment in something so crude as my staff’s anatomy, I will be more than happy to send you and your dicks back to the States- on different flights! Now go stand over there and face the door. The longer I see your faces, the more I want to punch them.” The two soldiers did as they were commanded, after all neither one of them wanted to know what would happen if they disobeyed. By now the CIA Director was livid; “You have no right to talk to my men that way.” Integra lit a cigar and blew out several puffs of smoke: “I hope you didn’t come all the way here to tell me that.” Captain Bach took the opportunity to speak; “We are here to find out what you know about Dr. Lazarus Thorton. The attacks on Trafalgar Square and on Buckingham Palace has his signature. Also, the Trafalgar Square attack was a personal on one of your agents. I’d think you could be move upset about that. We both have something in common, we both want catch Dr. Lazarus Thorton.” 

“No captain we don’t have anything in common. YOU want to catch Dr. Thorton, I want the pissant dead.”

“Dr. Thorton must be brought to justice.” declared Douglas. “He is a United States citizen, so he must be tried and sentenced there.”

“We want all the information you have on Dr. Thorton” said Bach.

“I already promised his head to one of my agents.”

The CIA agents looked at each other with confused looks.

“What exactly does that mean?” asked Douglas slowly.

Integra sighed. Why are most people idiots? Did they want her to spell it out for them?

**It means that Dr. Thorton is mine**

The Americans jumped, they were not expecting to hear voices in their heads. Some of them looked around as if looking for an additional person or maybe hidden speakers. Others specifically the CIA director, gave Integra suspicious look as if she was up to some sort of trickery, but a growl from the tiger told them where disembodied voice in their heads was coming from. Integra gave a small smile as she leaned towards Sam; “How about sharing the evil doctor with the nice CIA people?”

**No, that man is mine. And if anyone gets in my way or try to take my prey from me, they will be in a world of hurt.**

“That is obstruction of justice” said Douglas.

**I don’t give a damn about your ‘justice’**

Integra shrugged, while petting the large cat; “Well at least you tried, but you should heed her warning.”

Captain Bach glowered; “And why should we have to listen to a stupid animal?”

The attack happened so fast, that even Integra was taken off guard. One second the tiger was languidly lying at the Hellsing director’s feet; the next Captain Bach found himself on his back with a copper haired assassin sitting on his chest with a knife mere inches to his eyes. “And just who are you are calling ‘a stupid animal?”

The other soldiers silently cursed the fact that their weapons were taken away, because they were defenseless in this situation. Captain Bach decided that staying still was the best course of action. Douglas turned to Integra; “Call her off! If anything happens, you will be held responsible.”

“Always ready to shift the responsibility onto someone else, aren’t you?” However, Integra still did not command her shape shifting employee anything. Sam leaned closer to the petrified captain; “You look like you would taste so delicious. The amount of fear, just rolling off you is such a turn on.” The captain swallowed; “I-I’m sorry for calling you a stupid animal.”

“I’ll bet you are, do you know how long it was since I last tasted human flesh?”

The soldiers inched closer, maybe in hopes of making a grab for Sam. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, I might drop this knife.”

“We just came here to get information on Dr. Thorton, that’s all” said Beau.

“And you got a lot more than you bargained for.”

Integra sighed and getting up from the sofa, opening one of the drawers of her desk and took out a folder; “Dr. Thorton was last seen in Italy. According to my intelligence, he was hired by the Vatican for a special project.”

“What is this ‘special project”

Integra handed the CIA director the folder with a smirk; “See for yourself.”

The paper read:

Project: Human resurrection by a process known as the Lazarus Effect

Subject: Enrico Maxwell

Cause: For appointment of the role of leader of Section XIII also Iscariot Organization, for the sake of protection God’s holy church, the Roman Catholic Church from the satanic creative known as the ‘vampire’, due to Hellsing’s negligence.

The ‘negligence’ on Hellsing’s part was more of Integra’s disagreement to the pope’s terms and the way she said ‘no’, something with a crucifix and where the Holy Father should lodge it, which left the pope and his aides stunned. Douglas looked at the paper and then at Integra. “How can the Vatican hire someone like Dr. Thorton? I’m sure they know what atrocities he committed?”

“Judging by the history of the Catholic church, I highly doubt that they care about what he has done, to them it’s more of what he can do for them.”

“Now all we have to do is get him from the Vatican.”

Integra chuckled; “If it were that easy, he would have been dead by now.”

Douglas walked toward the door; “That’s not how we do things at the CIA.”

“Sam, you’re going to have to give the Americans back their captain.”

“Aww, can’t I have just a nibble?”

“No, Sam.”

“How about just his heart, they can have the rest.” Integra just gave the shapeshifter a look. Sam conceded and got off the soldier.

“This was very helpful” said Douglas, in an attempt to be cordial. However Integra was in no such mood; “Next time get your own bloody information. I was under the impression that the ‘I’ in CIA stood for ‘intelligence’, yet you have proven it to mean ‘Imbeciles’”.  Douglas had to admit that the Hellsing commander had a point, her soldiers hadn’t really behaved all that professionally. She decided to leave before anything else could happen. Integra returned to the sofa, she could use that cup of tea now.

Chapter End


	2. Here and There

Wings of the Damned

Sapphirewyren

Chapter 2: Here and There Again

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing**

**Author’s Note: I don’t if I already mentioned this, but chapters are going to be coming out more slowly because now I’m writing them and them typing them and then being lazy. However, think this allows me to be more creative (I think), we’ll see how it goes. Also, no Masters Degree for me because I couldn’t get student loans, but I will get it in the future. However, this means that you will be getting more stories** **J** **Now on to the next chapter!**

**In an undisclosed Lab with Vatican City**

Enrico Maxwell knew he had died, betrayed by Anderson, alone and unimportant. Whenever people thought about him, especially those who were on the front line in the Battle of Millennium, he was a traitor who had become drunk with power, who executed innocent people and a mad man. Indeed the picture they painted of him was not a pretty one. While in Hell, he suffered a punishment far worse than the painful death; his own lack of importance. Every minute of every day endless people walked by him refusing to acknowledge that he was even alive. Even as he tried to talk to them, the shoved passed him as if he was no more important than a beggar. Day after day it was like this. And suddenly, he was yanked out of it. No more suffering, no more pain. Was he to go to Heaven now? Paradise with God?

Enrico opened his eyes and squinted at the bright light that suddenly flashed into eyes. When his eyes was finally adjusted to the room, he took in his surroundings, it looked more like a hospital than Heaven. Enrico found that he was lying in a bed and he was hooked up to a machine that measured his pulse and pressure. If this was Heaven, it was certainly a strange version of it, nothing at all like the Bible or hymns described. Just then two men walked into  the room, one man was a pock faced red head and the second was an older man with graying hair, thin and walked with a limp. The older man who was Dr. Thorton walked over to Enrico; “I see that you are awake. That means my experiment was a success!”

“Experiment? What do you mean?”

“I have bought you back to life.”

Enrico sat up; “What kind of abomination have you done?”

Dr. Thorton was surprised by Enrico’s anger. Most people would be happy to be alive again, “What do you mean ‘abomination’? Do you realize what I have done? I have given you life! I have turned mere bones into a living person! No one else had done that! No one ever will! You should be thanking me!” However, Enrico did not see things that way; “You have sinned! You have played God! It is not for man to give life!” Dr. Thorton barked out a laugh: “I have played God you say? I AM GOD!”

“Blasphemer! You are dust! You are a heretic who have committed a grave sin!”

Just then laboratory door opened and several more men walked in, one of them being the Pope. “Now, now what is all the yelling about? Enrico Maxwell you are needed for a much higher purpose than lying in a coffin in an obscure grave. God has seen it fit for you to fulfill that purpose.”

Enrico gave the Pope an incredulous look; “You really expect me to believe that?”

“Clearly you can see that for yourself. You are breathing, you are living. The doctor does blaspheme by saying that he is God, the Father just used a man of his talent as a vessel to do His Will. You are much too important a man, to be lying dead. There is much to do and much you do not know, but you will have all the information in time, Cardinal Maxwell.”

Enrico was about to go off on the Pope again, when he just realized that he had been called ‘Cardinal’. The Pope turned to the two the Cardinals; “We will let Cardinal Maxwell properly ready and dressed. I am sure he is hungry.” The Cardinals placed some clothes on a nearby table. After everyone left the room, Enrico took time to process what just happened. Perhaps this was the will of God, so far he felt fine, no strange side effects and certainly no Satan coming back to claim his soul. Yes, that was it. This was the will of God, he would become important and this time he would it right. This time, the whole world will know his name.

Forty minutes later, clean, shaven and fully dressed, Enrico found himself in the Papa Palace’s dining room being introduced to other high ranking Cardinals as a priest who had spent years in remote places praying and looking for God; a modern-day John the Baptist. The only ones who knew the truth were Dr. Thorton, who was being paid to keep his mouth shut, as well as being protected; the Pope and two of his most trusted aides; Mario Salvietti, a short gray haired man with bright blue eyes and a large belly and Giorgio Verrechio; a balding man who was very muscular and had blazing green eyes. Now Enrico was a part of this papal inner circle, a most important position indeed. After saying grace, the Pope said to Enrico; “I am going to reinstate Section XIII, the Iscariot Organization.” This was better than Enrico would have hoped for. He will be able to destroy the satanic creatures once more and there would be no Hellsing to bother him! That dream was dashed when Cardinal Salvietti said; “Hellsing did not agree to our terms, so they are of no use to us now.” Enrico nearly choked on his food; “Hellsing still exists?”

“Yes, they have been around for over 400 years. They were very good until 16 years ago under the leadership of a man named Sir Leonard Reginald Taylor. He was removed last year because he was an idiot” sneered Cardinal Verrechio. Enrico turned to the muscular priest; “Was? What happened to him?”

“He was replaced by some crazy blond woman, what was her name? Integer? In….something.”

“Sir Integra Hellsing” came the frosty voice of the Hellsing commander. All the men in the room sat in stunned silence at the intrusion on what was supposed to be a private meal.

“How did you get in here?” demanded Cardinal Salvietti.

“This is a private meeting, Sir Hellsing” said the Pope mildly.

“When I heard that Dr. Thorton bought a man back to life, I had to see for myself. But I must say I am rather disappointed, it was not a man he revived but a pig.”

Some of the cardinals stood up; “Where is security?” one bellowed. “Get her out of here!” shouted another. Integra rolled her eyes; “You damn papists are too bloody loud.”

A baritone voice from behind her chuckled; “It seems like you’ve upset them, master.” At seeing the crimson clad vampire materialize, the cardinals became quiet, realizing that he was the reason why the security guards had failed to show. Enrico was not completely shocked at seeing Alucard, but Integra, who should have been dead a long time ago. How was she alive? The Pope took control of the situation by dismissing the cardinals except for his two aides and Enrico. “Now what is it you want Sir Hellsing? I have a feeling you already knew what Dr. Thorton had done, by what means I have no clue.”

“I am just here to give Enrico a warning.”

“You will address him as Cardinal Maxwell” demanded the Pope. Integra raised an eyebrow, while Alucard burst out in laughter; “He’s been alive for five minutes and already he been promoted to the position of Cardinal. Is that how the Church works now?” The Pope decided to refrain from answering.

“Fine I’ll humor you: _Cardinal Maxwell,_ you were bought back to life by most ungodly methods and since your disgusting carcass is sitting right in front of me with an idiotic look on its face, I consider you a threat to Great Britain, especially considering what you did the last time you were there.” Integra took out a Baretta M9 and pointed it at Enrico’s head. “As commander of the Hellsing Organization and protector of my country, I can’t let you live.” The Pope help up his hands; “Isn’t this overreacting a bit?” The Hellsing turned her laser like glare on the Holy Father; “I am sure you are aware of what he did before you allowed this piece of trash to crawl out of the grave!”

“We need his expertise on fighting vampires, since you didn’t agree to our terms!”

Integra scoffed; “What expertise?” This ass did nothing but run his mouth!” Alucard chuckled; “Things would have been more interesting if you built a regenerator.” Cardinal Salvietti laughed nervously; “Why don’t we out away the guns and talk like civilized people. His Holiness has seen that Cardinal Maxwell has experience with these monsters, that is all, there is no ulterior motive.” Integra put her gun away, walked over to where Enrico was sitting, slammed his head into his plate of food, leaned close and hissed: “Here’s my warning, you papist bitch: I will be watching you. In every reflective surface, you will see my face. I will be in your nightmares. You won’t be able to piss or shit without seeing me in the toilet water! If you do ONE thing other than killing vampires, I will have a hard time deciding whether I should let Alucard eat you or simply putting a bullet right between eyes. I will make sure that you ever came back to life. Am I clear?” Enrico stuttered; “Y—yes” Integra raised the newly minted Cardinal’s head and slammed it down again: “Yes what?”

“Yes, Sir Integra.”

“Good boy.”

Alucard cackled at his master’s brutality: “Sometimes. Master I believe that you are scarier than I am.”

Integra headed towards the doors, but stopped before going through; “I see that you are sitting quite comfortably in that chair, Your Holiness, so I take it, you didn’t follow my advice in taking the nearest crucifix, turning it sideways and shoving it up your ass?” The Cardinals gasped at such crude language directed at their leader, while Alucard laughed out loud, leaving with Integra. The Cardinals sat for a few moments in silence, before Cardinal Verrechio said; “What on earth on did you do to piss her off?”  While Enrico wiped the food off his face, the Pope said; “Never mind that, we are here to talk about plans on dealing with the vampires.” After the meal, which ended quickly due to fear and loss of appetite, the men sat in the Pope’s office. “I know when the Iscariot Organization was in its heyday, you enjoyed same luxuries, unfortunately due to political and economic strife in this country, so those luxuries cannot be met. Tomorrow Cardinals Espada and Romano will show you the troops that make up the Iscariot Organization.” The way the Pope said that left an uneasy feeling in Enrico, but he didn’t say anything. If he could get either Salvietti or Verrechio alone he would ask. After a lot of paperwork and document signing the Pope said; “We must consult the United Nations about the reinstatement of Iscariot Organization.”

“Why would the U.N. care?”

“Years ago, the United Nations saw it fit to become involved when vampires became rampart in several different countries. Many countries did not know how to handle vampires and still don’t know how. That’s why the Hellsing Organization is so widespread now. Many governments supply Hellsing with manpower, money, and technology in return for Hellsing’s knowledge of vampire extermination. Of course, they must use Hellsing to destroy the vampire threat. The Pope continued; “Now every country that wants to put together a vampire / monster extermination organization must be approved by the United Nations Security Council.” This wasn’t the type of news Enrico wanted to hear. “Wasn’t Hellsing supposed to be  a secret organization?”

Verrechio shook his head; “The time for secrecy is over. It’s no secret that there are vampires and lab made monsters, so the organizations that kills them see no reason to be so secretive.” That made sense, it also meant that the Iscariot Organization would work out in the open.

“What would the meeting with the U.N. be about besides reinstatement?”

“Mostly jurisdiction where Section XIII can and can’t operate, most likely in Italy and its surrounding islands” said Salvietti in a bored voice.

The Pope ended the meeting with a prayer as it was getting late and the cardinals retired for the evening. As Enrico prepared for bed, he smiled at the good news that he had received. He was excited about getting to know Rome again and a bit apprehensive. For one it was now the year 2551, not 1993 and therefore bound to be structural differences. The evening Mass was the same, just some minor translations, nothing too crazy. Perhaps it wouldn’t be too different, the Vatican certainly seemed similar, just as the Mass had been. If he was lucky or blessed enough the meeting with the U.N.S.C. would go smoothly and Hellsing would not be there to humiliate him. Tomorrow would be a good day, what could go wrong?

**Vatican City- Arch of the Bells**

The fog and the moonless sky left the city in near pitch black darkness. As he made his way towards the Arch of the Bells, the ancient structure loomed above him. The bell had stopped ringing an hour ago, yet their song still vibrated through the air around him. Under the dark arch, he could see the light of a lighter that lit a cigar in the mouth of the tall shadowy figure. An icy voice cut through the still night air like a serrated knife through bread; “Anything to report?”

“Nothing that you don’t already know, Sir, except that Maxwell will be attending a meeting with the U.N. via HoloCam and that the Pope, named him to be his successor, though not publicly.” Integra gave a derisive snort; “Isn’t there supposed to be a vote?” After the Pope’s death, the cardinals gather to a meeting called the _conclave_ to vote, headed by the Dean of the Sacred College. The man shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other; “Well this was done to protect Cardinal Maxwell from…”

“From what?”

“It’s more from whom.”

“And who would that be?”

“From you, Sir.”

Integra chuckled, that Pope was a shrewd one. He knew not even Hellsing would harm Enrico if he had a shot at the papal title. One would not kill pope’s possible successor and expect things to be hunky dory, even if he did crawl out the grave. The Hellsing Organization probably would not even able to accuse Enrico as being an undead threat let alone take any action. The Hellsing director frowned, perhaps she had played her hand too soon with that ‘warning’. Maybe she should have had a private chat with the newly resurrected cardinal. “Did the pope let Maxwell know?”

“Yes, the man puffed up like a preening peacock.”

Integra grinned; “The Pope is a fool. He has sealed his own fate.” The man knew exactly what Integra meant; “Shouldn’t you warn him about Enrico?”

“And make an ass of myself? His Holiness wouldn’t believe a word I say; besides I have no reason to save his hide. He knew exactly what kind of man he had revived. Furthermore, if his death is the only way to put that pig back in the grave, then so be it. No war is without collateral damage. Report to me immediately if anything new should arise.” With that Integra disappeared into the night fog. The man rushed back to his residence, he was not about to let all his hard work be for nothing. Things were about to get interesting but he was not sure he wanted to be in the middle of it.

Chapter End

**Author’s Notes: Well what do you know I posted another chapter before Wednesday. I’ll get started typing the third chapter. Feel free to check out my other series. I hope you enjoyed.**


	3. Bad News Barer

Wings of the Damned

Chapter 3: Bad News Barer

Sapphirewyren

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing**

**Authors Notes: So here we are at chapter three. The Arch of the Bells, where Integra met with that unknown man from the Vatican is the entrance of the Vatican City.**

Enrico arose early that morning, late the previous night he was told by the Pope himself that he would be his successor. Now Enrico knew how popes were elected, but to be a candidate was a dream come true. He would be able to show the world just how important he truly was just as he had promised Anderson all those years ago. After yet another Mass and breakfast two Cardinals introduced themselves as Jorge Espada and Pietro Romano. Cardinal Jorge Espada was a native of Spain, his tanned skin matched his chocolate brown eyes and hair. He looked like the love child of Brad Pitt and Antonio Banderas. Cardinal Pietro Romano wore his goatee like a five 0 clock shadow and his graying hair was cut close to head. His brown eyes darted in every direction as if he was expecting danger at any moment. Both Cardinals shared the same lean body structure And wearing the traditional garments of their station which were the typical scarlet cassock, sash and a skullcap called a biretta. The ensemble came with a scarlet hat that reminded Enrico of a McDonalds happy meal box, but none of them were wearing it at the moment. As the three walked the grounds of the Vatican, people respectfully nodded greeting and the occasional child who ran up to them, despite their brightly colored bodyguards, to ask them questions or for a blessing. “Many things have changed in the past years” sighed Cardinal Romano. “It would seem that the Catholic Church is tolerant of everything to the point of being lazy. There was a time when only the truly faithful were allowed into God’s house, now it’s like a public beach.” He was talking about the ‘citizen vampires’ whose made an appearance in many different countries several decades ago. Some of them have even taken up the practice of going to church.

“They even have human supporters, a group the Iron Grin” snorted Cardinal Espada. “They must be feeding those monsters with their own blood. What human supports a monster?”

“And it’s not just the monsters,” bemoaned Cardinal Romano. “Humans have also changed. The many new ‘genders’ springing up.” At this he gestured at the gay couple showing their affection for each other. As Maxwell was to go and forcibly pull the two apart, Cardinal Espada took him by the arm and shook his head. “The Catholic Church now teaches tolerance and forgiveness towards this and many other sins.”

“WHAT?!” Enrico practically roared. This of course earned the three Cardinal stares and strange looks.

“Nothing to see here, good people,” said Cardinal Romano.

“But this is preposterous, you mean fornication, abortion, homosexuality, contraceptive, sins like those are now tolerated?”

“Yes, they are sins that God forgives, therefore who are we, man, to refuse forgiveness?”

The look on Maxwell’s face made Cardinal Espada chuckle; “This is the way it is now. But I have heard rumors of the Pope allowing the ‘citizen vampires’ to attend mass.” Cardinal Romano nodded his head in agreement; “Right now there have been rioting in the streets outside the Vatican City and most of the economy have been spent trying to deal with this turmoil. The country is nearly broke.” The country was essentially tearing itself apart over vampires and what to do with the citizen vampires. Any country that had them barely gave them rights, but with a major religion such as the Catholic Church willing to give them, the political side of the country was now divided, some agreed with the Church and others didn’t. It also took a lot of money to pay extra for the soldiers who had to kill rogue vampires and other monsters in absence of a proper vampire killing organization. Enrico was beginning to miss the days he and Hellsing fought over jurisdiction to kill vampires that were not ‘citizens, but satanic pests that needed to be slain. The rest of the tour was mostly of new architecture and infrastructures, but Enrico only half listened to what was being said. Enrico wondered what Integra thought about ‘citizen vampires’, whenever the topic of Hellsing came up, the subject was quickly changed. Apparently, there was no love for Integra in the Vatican. It must have been that crucifix comment. But right now, she was probably the only person who felt the same way about citizen vampires as Enrico did. He was going to have to a talk with the Pope when he came back because at this rate the Catholic church would be a pale shadow of what it once was. “Perhaps I can persuade His Holiness that he needs to change the direction of the church” suggested Enrico. Both the Cardinals gave him a look as if he sprouted a second head. “Good luck with that” scoffed Espada “He will just tell you that tolerance has been a new feature in the Church and we should learn to embrace it.” Cardinal Espada ran his hand through his hair; “Don’t forget about what happened to the last person to try and talk him out if this ‘direction’, he was sent to some small church in the sticks.” Enrico sighed this was not what he wanted to hear, surely there were others who disagreed. The Cardinals confirmed this, but stated that the Pope was just happy to have more people in attendance at church and that former Popes had adapted this new idea of tolerance of different lifestyles.

“Well it’s time to meet the soldiers that you will be commanding” said Romano.

A car pulled up beside them and a Swiss Guard got out. “Here’s our ride” said Cardinal Espada. They were driven to a gray three story building. Behind this first building, were several smaller one-story buildings that served as barracks for the men and women that would make up the units of the Iscariot Organization. Outside the building stood a large man with cropped hair. He had sharp hazel eyes and a thick curly dark brown beard. The man wore a simple priest clothes and a crucifix on a leather string.

“What do you know, Father Castenello actually showed up on time” chuckled Espada. He nudged Enrico “He’s a very dependable man, but notorious for being late. The man does not know what punctuality is.” When Enrico was introduced to Father Castenello, the handshake he experienced was bone shattering.

Enrico was excited to see the troops, kind of like a child about to open their birthday gifts, but more dignified. He imagined priests dressed in the black robes, armed with silver Desert Eagles, loaded with blessed silver bullets, disciplined and ready to fight the satanic vampires in God’s name as His weapons on earth. What he saw took that excitement and stomped it into the ground. The sight that greeted him was far from what he imagined. Some soldiers were play wrestling, others sat at small table playing cards and drinking beer and laughing loudly, probably at some crude jokes. Some of the soldiers looked at the Cardinals and then went back to what they were doing. Enrico cringed, these reprobates didn’t even have enough respect to salute their superiors. One of the soldiers called out; “Hey Father Castenello, who’s the white-haired girl?” Enrico practically flipped out; “I AM CARDINAL ENRICO MAXWELL! YOU WILL ADDRESS ME AS SUCH!”

The soldiers found Enrico’s outburst to be funny, much to the man’s chagrin. “Wow. Such, you don’t have to yell so loud.”

“What?”

“Well you said to address you as ‘Such’, so that what I’m doin’”

The other soldiers laughed uproariously, until Father Castenello quieted them down; “This is the commander of Section XIII, the Iscariot Organization, Cardinal Enrico Maxwell and you will….”

“Address him as such?” interrupted a female soldier, causing the troops to laugh again.

“No” said Father Castenello patiently. “You will address him with the same respect you give the other Cardinals.” One soldier raised his hand and said; “I don’t respect the Cardinals, I just tolerate them cuz I gotta get paid.” While Father Castenello smiled, he said; “Well Cardinal Maxewell is my boss, so I would appreciate it if you showed some respect.” The soldiers looked shocked and soon there were loud protests. “No way!” “You fucking jokin, right?” “This girly looking guy?” “Man, I’d rather the blond chick, she had balls” Enrico heard the words ‘blond chick’ and demanded; “Who are they talking about?” Espada and Romano gave each other nervous glances until Father Castenello said: “Sir Integra Hellsing came by a couple of days ago.”

“SHE WHAT?!”

“Calm down, she just wanted to see the troops.”

“I thought she was gonna be your boss, Father Castenello” said one soldier.

“Iscariot Organization will NEVER work for Hellsing!” said Enrico. With that the Cardinal stormed out. This was not what he had expected. Those soldiers were completely useless! Where were the priests who were willing to become God’s weapons on earth to eradicate the vampires. Those troops looked like they would sooner join the vampires than kill them. The Iscariot Organization would never thrive at this rate. And what was worse was that Integra had seen this sorry excuse for soldiers. She must have been laughing all the way back to London! The other three men finally caught up with the very angry Enrico, who whirled on them; “Can one of you tell me, what the devil was that?! Those rejects that you call soldiers are not fit to be the Iscariot Organization!”

“It doesn’t matter who you think is fit, those are all we have to work with” said Espada stiffly. “They volunteered and were trained for a year now.”

“Trained doing what? Lazing about and being undisciplined?!”

“They were trained to fight vampire, exactly what the Pope wanted. Not many people stepped forward to do this.”

“Are they even Catholic?”

At this question, all three men shuffled on their feet uneasily, the Romano said; “It was hard to get enough people to….”

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’’ interjected Enrico angrily.

“Some of them are Catholic, maybe not the type to go to Mass every Sunday, but Catholic” said Romano weakly.

“We shouldn’t be picky, Maxwell. There are a mix of all religions and beliefs, and even some who are atheist” said Espada.

“WHAT?! How can an atheist be a weapon of God if they don’t even believe?”

“Maybe instead of looking at them as weapons, but as humans putting their lives on the line to protect their country, it might be easier” ground out Father Castenello.

“What else should I know about this ‘elite’ group?”

“Some of them may not have always been…. law abiding citizens, so this was an option instead of jail time” said Romano softly.

“Great! We got criminals! Criminals, atheists and if I remembered correctly, one of those brutes spoke about getting paid, so we can add mercenaries! This should be great, with soldiers this prestigious, vampire all over the countries will fear us.” All of this was said with a nasty sneer and in a very sarcastic tone of voice. “ENOUGH!!” bellowed Father Castenello. His voice was so loud, soldiers, people and other clergy members stopped to see what was going on. “I have had enough of your complaints! You are acting like a spoiled child! These soldiers do not have to be here! They volunteered to do this! You stand there making demands as if you know what it takes to lead men into battle! You yourself will not be fighting the vampires, you will just be sitting on your useless ass and giving orders!” Before Enrico could reply, the angry priest stormed off back towards the barracks. The people watching fell deathly silent, soon one by one they went on doing whatever it was they were doing. Espada wore a look on his face that was between shocked and trying not laugh. Cardinal Romano looked grim and tight lipped. “I WILL be having a serious with His Holiness” seethed Enrico. He wished Anderson was there, the regenerator would have been able to whip those soldiers into shape. He would try and see if there was some way to get new people for the Iscariot Organization. And he would have a talk with a certain Hellsing director, how dare she stick her nose where it doesn’t belong.

            That night, to say the talk with the Pope didn’t go well would be a grave understatement. Enrico had complained about the direction of the church’s view on tolerance, and then he slammed the state of the soldiers. He must have gotten the Pope on a bad night because the older man did not want to hear it. “If you haven’t noticed Cardinal Maxwell, while you practically slept through some of this country’s worst conflicts, I was living through it! Economic wise we cannot afford any of the luxuries, you are so gracelessly demanding! You must work with Father Castenello and the troops he picked out. No priest is going to run around killing vampires. They are not trained for such duties! We barely have any people attending masses and we are not going to send any priests out to risk being killed by vampires! When you are Pope, you may make all the changes you want, until then you will abide by the rules that are already set. You are to make sure that the Iscariot Organization is doing its job properly and nothing more! Now, I am going to the chapel to pray and I suggest you do the same!”  That was the end of that conversation. As he watched the Pope walk off, Enrico hadn’t forgotten the little ‘chat’ he wanted to have with Integra. He finally got her on the phone, after getting through her insufferable butler. How does she manage to find only the most annoying ones? Enrico ranted about the fact that she had to have known what type of people were now in the ranks of the Iscariot Organization; “How dare you do what you did?!”

“And what is it that I did?”

“You and the Pope got together and gathered together the worse degenerates you could find to be members of the Iscariot Organization!”

“Now to be fair, the soldiers you have now are a step up from the ones you had before, they were the true degenerates.”

“So, you admit it?!”

“If I say ‘yes’, you’ll continue to bitch all night and if I say ‘no’, you would call me a liar and some idiotic slur about being Protestant. But I’m going with ‘no’ and hanging up.”

            And Integra hung up the phone, leaving Enrico staring open mouthed at the receiver in his hand. He tried calling several more times, but got Philip on the phone, who told him in a very annoyed voice to stop calling about nonsense and that Sir Hellsing was busy. This pissed off Enrico even more, but right now there was nothing he can do. But he remembered what the Pope had said to him “When you are Pope…” Enrico smiled to himself, all he had to do was become Pope.

 

**Chapter End**

**Author’s Notes: You can feel free to google what the Cardinals wear to give you some insight on what Maxwell would be wearing. I am glad to have gotten this far and to have two dedicated readers. Hope you enjoyed and see you in the next chapter. Meeting with the United Nations is up next.**


	4. Meetings and meetings and meetings Oh My

 Wings of the Damned

Sapphirewyren

Chapter 4: Meetings and meetings and meetings, oh my

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing**

The next morning Enrico was reminded of his meeting with the United Nations. This did not make his already sour mood better. He would have preferred another crack at convincing the Pope about the church’s tolerance policies. Why wouldn’t the U.N. just write a note or send an email? They insisted on a face to face meeting. Well not technically a face to face, the leaders of the meeting would log on and send notifications to those they wanted to attend. Once longed in the person would be in a meeting room, in this case to conference room of the United Nations Security Council.

The United Nations Security Council is charged with maintaining peace and security among nations. They are made up of fifteen member c0untries; five permanent and ten nonpermanent. And since vampires and other test tube monsters were running around the countries, the UNSC decided to add dealing with them to the UN Charter. When Enrico logged on he saw the heads of the fifteen countries that consisted of the UNSC: China, France, Russia, United States, and the United Kingdom, Spain, Japan, Australia, Jordan, New Zealand, Malaysia, Nigeria, South Korea, Chile and Venezuela. The Director of the United Nations: Ayumi Miyamoto and the president of Security Council; Adebiyi Obademi, a native of Nigeria. Also, there was one person he knew would be at the meeting: Integra Hellsing. Enrico sighed any meeting with that boorish England woman was bound to be a disaster. He was glad that it was a hologram because that meant Integra couldn’t punch him if she didn’t like what he said. Even though the option of the commander flying to the Vatican to sock him a good one was not beyond her.

Miyamoto cleared her throat; “This should be a short meeting, just installing the Iscariot Organization as a vampire hunting faction under the United Nations representing the Vatican City and Italy.” President Obademi took out a stack of papers, shifted his glasses and said; “There has been a substantial raise in vampire sightings and attacks, so this is a good thing because the people of Italy needs protecting.” Other people at the meeting nodded in agreement. “The Iscariot Organization has lawful jurisdiction over the Vatican City, Italy and the Sicily and Sardinia. Under no circumstances will the Iscariot Organization intrude onto the Hellsing Organization or the CIA’s territories without notifying them first. Failure to do so will result in immediate disbandment.” Miyamoto sent both the Pope and Enrico a steely gaze; “Am I clear?”

“Isn’t that a bit harsh?” asked Enrico. The other people the table looked at him as is he just said the most unintelligent thing in the world. The representative of Venezuela Rodrigo Garcia tugged at his thin moustache before saying; “Countries have gone to war for a lot less. It must be this way, so it does not bring chaos, to the countries and the organizations.”

“But countries whose main religion is Catholic should be under the protection of the Vatican, the Iscariot Organization! We had a meeting with your government, Garcia, about leaving Hellsing. If you would leave, then others would follow.”

Enrico glanced at Integra, expecting the leader to say something snarky or vulgar, but the only sign he could get from her, was a bored expression and a slight raise of the eyebrow.

“Yes, about that,” said Garcia, “Our president has refused your offer, due to lack of experience and money. You see our country is also in economic strife and even though we cannot offer Hellsing any support of our own, she has still decided to help us, at no cost, you can say. Whereas the Vatican still demanded what we cannot give.”

Since when did the bitch grow a heart? Thought Enrico. He then realized the truth behind the generosity. Hellsing didn’t NEED their resources because she already had resources. By going to economically wealthy countries, they gave her resources out of sheer gratitude because her organization dealt with their monster problems. So poorer countries didn’t need to give as much resources as wealthier ones. These countries supplied Hellsing with something more valuable than money or manpower: information. This enabled Hellsing to have large expansive network of any monster sightings but also anything else. Also bases baring the Hellsing logo were built so that local and federal armed forces could learn how to deal with monsters as well. Enrico ground his teeth, that woman was truly a force to be reckoned with.

“The Iscariot Organization’s jurisdiction are Italy, the Vatican City, Sardinia and Sicily. If you want to work together with Hellsing, that is fine, but to try and take away business when you’ve barely the resources and manpower is a rather low tactic. Prove that you can protect your own lands before trying to take on others.”

“Doesn’t it say something like that in your Bible?” sneered the Representative of Jordan. The Pope and Enrico could only look shamefaced and the Cardinal did not have to look at Integra to know that she was wearing a smirk of superiority, he could practically feel it being burned into his brain.

“Well the last thing that we need to know is where is Dr. Lazarus Thorton II?” stated Obademi. “As of now it seems that there are no conclusive sighting of the man.”

Enrico’s blood went arctic cold. The only people who knew  where the crazy quack was, were the Vatican who hired him and Hellsing who seemed to know everything. And since the Vatican was not going to say anything, that just left the Hellsing Organization to spill their guts. Both the Pope and Enrico waited for the dreaded moment for when Integra would rat them out, ending everything they had worked so hard to get. However the only thing the knight said was; “Unfortunately at this time we do not have any new information on the whereabouts of Dr. Thorton. If anything should arise, you will be the first to know.” She had said it so smoothly and convincingly that both leaders of the UN believed her. They nodded  

The meeting went on about different topics, but Enrico couldn’t get the fact out of his head that Integra LIED to the United Nations Security Council. SHE LIED!! Integra knew that at this very moment Dr. Thorton was in the walls of Vatican City, yet she LIED! She must be up to something. All the years that he knew her, he knew that she was not one to lie. It didn’t seem to be part of her, not even a white lie. She made it a point to be honest, sometimes brutally so, at least he thought. And here she was LYING to the UN. Did she do something? Did she know something more? What did she want? Enrico was certain that Integra was not doing this to help the Vatican, so there was something more. But he couldn’t ponder this right now, as the meeting had come to an end, the members were saying their farewells and logging off. Soon everyone had logged off except for the members of Iscariot and Hellsing.

“You’re just dying to know why I lied to the UN, are you not?”

“Huh?”

“It’s written all over both of your stupid faces. You two basically looked like stunned cattle for the remainder of the meeting.”

“So why did you do it?” asked the Pope. “Blackmail? Money” You want us to give up the Iscariot Organization? Whatever it is you are not getting anything!”

Surprisingly Integra just smiled; “It is not anything as simple as that.”

“Stop playing games, you sow!”

This earned Enrico a laser like glare so intense he thought for a minute that Integra would kill him. “When Icarus has come crashing to earth after flying too close to the sun, I will be right there to put a bullet in his head.” And with that the hologram image that was Integra winked out of existence. Enrico and the Pope sat there for a couple of minutes, confused at these words, before logging off themselves. “What in God’s name did she mean by that?” demanded the Pope. “You knew her a life time ago!”

Enrico scratched his head, this woman was not the same Integra he knew. There was something different about her, something darker and he was sure it had something to do with the Battle with Millennium. The new version of Integra seemed that she would do anything to accomplish her goals, even if it was morally or legally questionable. The Integra he knew would not even think of doing such a thing. Then a little voice in his head in almost a whisper; “You did this to her.” Even though the two organizations did not like each other, taking the time to set aside their differences to fight their common enemy; Millennium, should have taken priority, but it didn’t. Because of the actions, he and many others had taken, the survivors of that fateful night, came out of it changed in many ways. Enrico shook his head; “That was a lifetime ago and even then, I didn’t really know her.” “Well whatever she meant sounded like a threat, do try and be careful around her.” With that the pope left the room.

Later that week Enrico decided that he had enough of trying to convince the stubborn pontiff to change the lax ways of the church. Gathering five Cardinals who also hated the changes as much as he did: Mario Salvietti, Stefano Bianchi; a white haired man of short stature and was bowlegged, Antonio Ricci, an obese man who forgot about the part where eating in excess was a sin, he had a large bald spot in the middle of thick brown hair, making him look like a friar, Giovanni Piero; a tall noodle necked man with no chin, a dropping mouth and his unkempt dirty blond hair looked like a bird’s nest and Pietro Romano. As of late they had been discussing how to persuade the Pope, but because his stubbornness, they had to find a new way to show the Pope he was wrong. “Or maybe we need a new Pope” said Cardinal Ricci. The room became still with all eyes on Cardinal Ricci. Enrico smirked; “He did say when I became Pope that I could change the rules.” Ricci huffed; “Why do you think that _you_ will be Pope?” Mario chuckled; “Antonio, all you care about is food, perhaps someone who can concentrate on more than their dinner plate should lead the church.” Ricci glared at Salvietti, but then began to laugh; “You are right, I do appreciate meals. Never mind me, Enrico, I haven’t had my after-dinner snack yet.” All the Cardinals had a good laugh at that. Cardinal Romano declared; “I think that Enrico should be the next Pope, not only was this his idea to change the church, but his youth is a great advantage. I believe that he will be able to connect to the younger Cardinals and people.”

“The question is now, how to get rid of the Pope we have now?” asked Enrico.

“A sudden sickness?” suggested Romano.

Salvietti shook his head: “For an old man the Pope is very healthy. He has no heart or other organ problems. He rarely gets even a cold.”

“You can forget about poison” said Ricci, “it would look very suspicious. He aids would be the first under suspicion.”

“So, the only way for the to happen is if one of us, do it?” asked Cardinal Piero nervously. Again, the room became silent. Even if they wanted to make changes in the church and getting a new Pope was a way of going about it, none of the cardinals were prepared to kill the Pope. They all looked around the room, as if to see who would agree to do the detestable act, but no one volunteered. Finally Bianchi said; “There must be another way. We are men of God, killing is a grave sin and none of us are willing to spend an eternity in Hell just for a couple of rule changes.” There were murmurs among the clergymen. Enrico had to think fast, the Cardinals were getting antsy and might back and completely; “How about hiring someone?” “You mean like an assassin?” asked Ricci. Piero rubbed his chinless face; “That just might work. If someone can make it seem like an accident, we might have a chance.” Given by the nods, all the men agreed, as long as they didn’t have to get their hands dirty, now they just have to find someone who would take the job. Soon a nearby bell rang out in the late hour and after bidding each other a good night, the cardinals left the room. Finally,! Enrico thought things were finally beginning to look up. Soon the Pope would be dead and he would be in charge. Feeling so giddy with the turn of events, that he let out a loud laugh, meanwhile fully unaware of the secret listener that the meeting had.

As he retreated quickly and quietly down the dark hallway, Dr. Thorton pondered what to do with this new acquired information, which he had recorded. He didn’t know the other cardinals’ voices but recognized Enrico’s. While everyone lived their lives at the Vatican, they mostly forgot about him and that was just fine with him. It enabled him to be invisible and to listen in on conversations like the ones he just heard. This was just too good, now he had leverage. He could get anything he wanted or he could threaten to give Hellsing the recording, that would teach those uppity Cardinals. But he was not where he was because of stupidity, he would wait for the perfect opportunity and then he would reveal his hand. As the days went by, Dr. Thorton made sure he overheard each meeting, though most them was just whining about church policies. What he really wanted to know was when exactly they would carry out the deed. By now they already found someone who had a grievance with the church and wouldn’t mind offing the Pope. But suddenly their plans took a detour. “What do you mean he’s flying to England?” shouted Ricci. Salvietti who was one of the Pope’s aides had just informed the group of the abrupt change in the Pope’s schedule. “Why would he be going there? Is it the Hellsing Organization?” asked Enrico. Salvietti shrugged his shoulders; “He didn’t say, I’m guessing for a mass; what else could it be?” Throwing his hands in the air, Enrico growled; “Fine, we will wait until he gets back from his trip.”

A couple of days later, the news came on with this headline:

POPE DEAD AT 85 YEARS OLD.

Chapter End

**Author’s Notes: Well that’s a cliffhanger if I ever saw one. How did the Pope die? Was it Hellsing? Did Alucard eat him? Find out in the next chapter or maybe the chapter after that. The countries that are in the UNSC are not the same countries that are there now. Besides the first five countries, China, Great Britain, the U.S, Russia and France are permanent members, the other ten are non-permanent, so they change. Well that’s all for this chapter. Hope you enjoyed.**


	5. Death of a Pope

Wings of the Damned

Sapphirewyren

Chapter 5: Death of a Pope

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing**

**Hellsing Manor**

On a brisk morning, Integra’s good night sleep was interrupted by what she called ‘that ass of a vampire. Alucard’. As a matter of fact his booming cackling could be heard even outside the Manor. When Integra reached the living room, she was Alucard holding his sides from laughter, Seras who looked a mix between anger and sad, and a straight-faced Sam, not usually the way Integra found her ‘pets’ in the morning. Usually Alucard and Seras were asleep after a night of hunting rouge vampires and Sam with a face full of food in the kitchen.

“Alucard, what is so funny that you have to wake up half of London?” asked Integra irately.

“Look master, a ton of bricks fell on the Pope’s head” snickered the vampire pointing to the television.

On the television, a brown-haired anchorwoman, with a mournful look in her brown eyes stood in front of a half-constructed church. “The Pope was in London this past week blessing a series of churches, both Catholic and Protestant, temples and mosques as a show of good faith and tolerance towards all religions. While giving a blessing for the church behind me, to be named New London Protestant Cathedral, a crane that was carrying a load of bricks, broke and fell on the Pope and two of his body guards, killing them instantly. Right now, we are not sure how this happened, some speculate that the crane was carrying too much weight. So far this has been ruled as an accident, not as an assignation attempt or any terrorist attack. We will bring you more information as we get it.”

At this Alucard started laughing again. “This is not funny!” cried Seras.

“You are right, Police Girl” said Alucard “This is hilarious!”

“Sir, make his stop laughing” pleaded Seras.

“You’re just going to have to wait until he finds something else interesting” said Integra. Sera’s shoulders slumped, unlike her master who thought that an old man being crushed to death by a ton of bricks was humorous, she thought it was grisly. When they got all those brisk and the platform off the Pope, the medical examiners are going to have a doozy of a time trying to separate what was left of the Pope’s organs from his two bodyguards, and that image left Seras feeling a bit queasy. Seras didn’t have anything against the Pope, even if he did make the silly decision of reviving Enrico Thorton using Dr. Lazarus Thorton a known criminal. while Seras was still moping on the couch she could see Integra and Sam talking on the other side of the room. Seras could have used her vampiric senses to hear what they were saying, but she was too busy listening for new information on the Pope’s death in the news. After Sam left-with a creepy looking smile on her face- Integra went over to the couch picked up the remote and turned off the television. Alucard groaned; “Master, I wanted to see if they had video footage of the flattened Pope.” Integra gave him a stern glare, while Seras opted for elbowing Alucard in the stomach. Looking around Seras asked; “Where did Sam go, Sir?” Integra smirked; “She had a doctor’s appointment.”

As she made her way to her office, Integra pondered over the Pope’s death and cursed what she called his ‘ineptitude in death’. The old the fool had to die in London and on the site of a Protestant church no less. How could a person be so stupid, even when dying? She had a gut feeling that somehow the Vatican would probably spin it and blame Hellsing if they could get away with it. It seemed like a farfetched thing to do, but knowing Enrico it would seem plausible. The last thing Integra wanted to do was to defend her organization against the insipid claims of a mad man, but it was better to be prepared than to regret it later. And if Maxwell decided to do something as idiotic as blame Hellsing for the Pope’s death, he would get a nasty surprised. Integra prayed that he used what little brains God gave him to truly think through his next course of action, because if not, tearing down the Vatican would bring her great pleasure.

**Apartment in Vatican City**

Joseph didn’t bother getting off the couch, where he had fallen asleep the night before. By the dead silence in the apartment, he knew that Dr. Thorton was probably somewhere skulking about listening in on what was supposed to be private conversations. He had been doing that for the last couple of weeks. Dr. Thorton was nosy like that. But it wasn’t like he wasn’t being nosy himself. Joseph sighed, how on earth did he get caught up in all this anyway? It all started about a year ago, not to long after the Trafalgar Square incident. Dr. Thorton had been intent on getting away, that he left important things behind including his assistants. A few days after that occurrence, Joseph was mindlessly strolling down the street, waiting for his boss to call to tell him where to meet up, when suddenly he was knocked on the back of the noggin. Before going completely unconscious, he felt himself being hoisted on someone’s shoulder and heard a voice say sharply; “Just open the trunk….”. After that Joseph had no idea what happened. He was semi-conscious when the car arrived at its destination and he heard the same commanding voice order someone to pick up, what they referred to as a ‘useless sack of horse mess’. Even in his state, Joseph found that to be rather insulting. He blacked out again and sometime later, he became fully conscious. He looked around and saw that he was in some kind of dungeon. When he tried to get up he realized that had on a heavy chain to the thick concrete wall. “What the….? Where am I?”

“Oh good, you’re awake. I was about to resort to other painful methods to bring you to” said the frosty voice of Integra. Jonathan stared at her wide-eyes and said in a quivering voice; “T-this is kidnapping! This is illegal!”

“Really? I guess it couldn’t be anymore illegal than releasing mutant bat hybrids on the populace.”

“It wasn’t me! I don’t know what….”

This denial earned Joseph a hard slap to the face, that loosened some molars.

“Did that help jog your memory?”

Joseph nodded his head and decided that staying silent was best in the situation he was in. just then the door opened and a butler walked in and handed a thick folder to Integra. “Here is the information you asked for, Sir.” When the butler left, Integra said; “Here is what is going to happen, you are going to work for me WHILE working for Dr. Thorton. Joseph’s mouth fell open; “No way! I’d never betray Dr. Thorton!” Integra tossed the folder that she had received from Philip at the red head’s feet; “I had a feeling you would say that.” Joseph sifted through the papers and with each passing sheet, he was more and more horrified. He looked up at the commander, who had an almost wolf like grin on her face. In the folder was information about him, from where he was born, to where he went to school and everything in between. It the names of even his previous girlfriends-all three of them- and even all their information as well. The folder contained details about his fellow assistants and their lives. The most shocking thing was there was a detailed profile on Dr. Thorton. How? How was this possible? No one was supposed to know about Dr. Thorton!

Integra had to admit that she enjoyed seeing the look of terror on the young man’s face as he looked through the folder. When exactly had, she become this sadistic, she had no clue, but she liked it. “Where did you get this?” whined the lab assistant. Integra shrugged; “It’s easy, when you know where to look.” Joseph gave Integra a defiant look; “This…this changes nothing! I’m not doing anything you say!” The Hellsing commander took out a cigar and lit it, after taking a puff, she said; “One call to the authorities and I can have your dear, sweet, granmum sitting in a tiny cell in Baskerville Penitentiary*.”

Baskerville Penitentiary was Britain’s answer to the climbing crime rate. The off-island facility was reserved for the worst of killers and rapists, kind of like the monstrous beast it was named for. Most prisoners that went in to that place, only came out in a body bag or an urn. The food was horrible, the conditions were just as horrible and tax dollars were paid so that the conditions stayed terrible. The only thing good about Baskerville was its security. It was built on a man-made island and if a prisoner did make it outside the walls, it was a long drop onto man-made jagged rocks and metal spikes. The thought of his eight-eight-year-old grandmother in that deplorable place gave Joseph the chills. The young man gave Integra a look of defeat; “Fine, I’ll work for you. What is it that you want me to do?”

“I just need you to put this on his person, if you have to shove it up his ass, then do so. Integra tossed a small plastic square case as Joseph. Inside was a small transmitter. “Yes, Sir”

Fast forward several months later. Joseph had finally heard from Dr. Thorton and he place the transmitter in a place the scientist would never look…his favorite watch. When he had contacted Integra to let her know that the deed was done, she replied with; “I can see why Dr. Thorton likes you so much, you are so obedient. Such a good dog.” Joseph hung up the phone before the Hellsing director would say anything else. Several months after that phone call Dr. Thorton was hired by the Vatican for a special project. As he relayed all of this lying on that couch Joseph felt like crap. Dr. Thorton had given him a chance at becoming a scientist and he betrayed him. “Screw it!” Joseph said to himself. He would tell Dr. Thorton everything. Sure, the scientist would be angry at first, but when everyone settled down, he would think of a plan to keep Hellsing from finding them and keep his granmum out of Baskerville Penitentiary. Joseph got up from the couch as the door to the apartment opened. “Dr. Thorton, is that…who are you?” Joseph asked the copper haired woman who was clearly not Dr. Thorton. Sam smirked at the man’s frightened expression; “I’m just here for lunch.”

Dr. Thorton ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He had snuck into the Papal Palace…well more like walked in because there were barely any security guards in sight. He had seen people wailing and crying in the streets but had not paid too much attention to them. When he reached the Palace, he saw Cardinals running back and forth like a bunch of headless roaches. When he was able to stop one of them to find out why all the frenzy, the Cardinal had given him such a mournful look before telling him the worst news of his life; the Pope was dead. Dr. Thorton didn’t wait to hear how or why, he just knew he had to leave Vatican City and fast. Hellsing was probably on its way now. Or maybe M16 or the CIA or any government agency in the world, if they knew. Dr. Thorton was certain that Hellsing was on their way because they knew exactly where he was. He ran through a list of things that he needed to pack and he tried calling Joseph a third time. Where was that boy? He had better not be sleeping! He called the other assistants and got no answer. Why could he find good help?! When Dr. Thorton reached his apartment, he could tell something was very wrong, it was far too quiet. It was if no one was around. The first sign of life or more like non-life was when he nearly tripped over a bloody severed arm. Dr. Thorton looked around the place, there were body parts from all three assistants scattered about. Most of these parts looked like they have been eaten. The sight made Dr. Thorton feel like throwing up. Just then a sultry voice from purred; “The main dish finally makes its appearance.”

“What did you do? Who are you?”

“Well now, you’ve hurt my feelings, Lazarus. I thought we were friends.”

“I don’t know you!” The scientist looked around frantically trying to find who and where the voice was coming from.

“Such a shame, you’ve forgotten me already.” As Sam stepped out of the shadows, Dr. Thorton gasped in recognition. The assassin gave a mirthful smirk; “So you do remember me. That’s good, then I don’t have to tell you why I am here.”

“Please let me live. I promise I won’t do any more experiments!”

“Let you live? After what you did to my friends? My family? My children!?”

“I’m sorry…please…I’m begging you….!”

“Tell me, did your victims beg for you to stop their torture?”

“I’m….I….”

Sam grabbed Dr. Thorton by the throat; “TELL ME!!!”

“Yes! Yes, they did!”

“And were you so kind to grant them any mercy?”

“No…I….I wasn’t.”

“So, why should I let you live?”

“Please…don’t….don’t kill me. I’ll do anything.”

“To save your own skin, I’m sure you will. But after what you have done to me and the so many I have cared about, letting you live would be very stupid.” Sam gave the scientist a rough shove; “I will, however, give you a couple of minutes to start running.”

Even though his brain screamed for Dr. Thorton to start running, his legs wouldn’t move as he watched Sam slowly morph from a human woman to a large tiger.

**So, you have decided not to run? That is fine by me, I love it when my meal is fresh.**

Dr. Thorton was alive long enough to know what it was like to have one bowels eaten by a large cat. Let’s just say it was messy and painful. People outside would later claim to hear screams, but couldn’t place where they were coming from.

 

**Langley, CIA Headquarters, USA**

When Director Douglas was told that the Pope had been killed, it hit her like a ton of bricks. (Too soon?) She knew it was only a matter of time before Hellsing would sink her claws into the not so good Dr. Thorton. So, she immediately sent the Black Night squad to the Vatican of the fastest plane. This time she hoped that someone there would be more cooperative. The last time, the Pope had flat out denied that the Vatican hired Dr. Thorton to do something so preposterous as bring a person back from the dead. They tried to convince her that Sir Hellsing was insane or possibly making things up because of her dislike of the Vatican. But Douglas was not convinced, sure the Hellsing leader could use a crash course in common courtesy, but she was certainly not the type of woman to fabricate complete nonsense. That would be a waste of time and Integra Hellsing did not waste time, this much Douglas knew. So, she knew that she had to more fast before either Dr. Thorton fled, which she would be inclined to do or Hellsing caught him.

As soon as the Black Night’s plane touched down, there were cars waiting for them, and they sped towards the Vatican City. When they reached there, Captain Bach demanded to see the person in charge and met Cardinal Mario Salvietti. He practically bellowed; in the poor man’s face for the whereabouts of Dr. Thorton.

“You didn’t let Hellsing in did you?”

“Hellsing?”; blustered the Cardinal “No, I haven’t seen them. Are they coming?”

“Just pray they aren’t here already.”

Cardinal Salvietti led the Black Night Squad to the apartments where Dr. Thorton and his assistants were supposed to have resided. When they opened the door, and entered the apartment Cardinal Salvietti screamed and actually broke down in tears at the grotesques scene that greeted them.

“What happened here?” gasped Derekson.

“Hellsing happened” growled Captain Bach. He radioed Director Douglas and she was steamed.

“Gather as much evidence as you can.”

“That’s going to be a problem” said Jules.

“What? Why is that?”

“The room is spotless besides a pile of human bones in the center of the living room.”

The apartment looked as if no one lived in them. Everything of Dr. Thorton and his team was gone except for their bones. Captain Bach turned to the sobbing Cardinal; “I thought you said that you didn’t let Hellsing in!”

“I didn’t! No one’s been here, at least as far as I knew. I saw Dr. Thorton this morning and gave him the news of the Pope’s death and he ran off.”

 

Director Douglas was pissed, if Integra could see her, she would probably have steam coming out of her ears.

“Sir Hellsing, you have crossed the line!” the CIA leader bellowed.

“And what would that line be?”

“You killed Dr. Thorton!”

“So where’s my ‘thank you’ card?”

“You think this is funny!? I told you that if Dr. Thorton was to be apprehended, he was to be turned over to US officials.”

“I told you where you could find him. Why didn’t you take him into custody?”

“The Pope denied it and we didn’t have a search warrant.”

Integra chuckled; “You just had to do things by the book. No wonder you can’t get anything done.”

“We are not brutes, we don’t just barge in. What you did was illegal! The United Nations Security Council will hear of this!”

“Feel free to tell them whatever it is you want. Just know that I take protecting my country very seriously. No set of idiotic rules or bureaucrats will tell me how to do so.”

With that the Hellsing director hung up the phone. Integra stared through the smoky haze of her cigar. The U.N. would probably tear her a new one for lying to them about Dr. Thorton’s whereabouts. But this wouldn’t be the first time that she would have been yelled at by a bunch of old men. The good thing about all this was, Integra was at no risk of losing her job. No matter how much the U.N.S.C. may yell and piss their pants, both the Prime Minister and the Queen of England would take no action against her or the Hellsing Organization. The Prime Minister had told her; “I do not give a damn, what you do to him when you catch him. He is to be treated like one of the monstrosities that he created. Why the Americans want to give him a trial and all that rot is beyond me. He showed callous disregard for human life. I don’t see why life should be any different.” Integra had completely agreed with him. The usually calm and cautious man had become so tired of Dr. Thorton and those like him, that he was not willing to the mad man defend himself in court or worse. The creation of monsters and human experimentation outraged him. So when Integra told the Prime Minister and the Queen that the criminal scientist was dead, it was cause for celebration.

The other good thing that came out of Dr. Thorton’s death was all the notes and evidence that he had in his room. Integra had all his notes and journals destroyed, something she over-saw personally. The last thing needed was for anything of this man to get into the hands of some other crack pot or fanboy. The only thing that was saved, were a recorder with the many meeting of the Cardinals and a detailed journal that had the date, times and places that the Cardinals met. The journal and the recordings went together like a puzzle. Integra laughed to herself, the stupid Cardinals had no idea that they were being listened in on. If anything the recording and journal would make it easier to blame the Pope’s death on the group of traitorous clergymen, even if dropping a ton of bricks on the Holy Father’s head was not part of their plan.

 

**Vatican City**

Enrico and his group of sat at the table, none of their saying a word. Salvietti had just given them the news of Dr. Thorton’s death, which disappointed Enrico because he had planned to use him for his services, when he became Pope. The good thing that the Vatican had some of the scientist’s journals from before they hired him. But it was the Pope’s death that weighed heavily on them all. Just a week ago they had just paid a man to kill the Pope and before the assassin could do the deed, the Holy Father was killed and in London, no less. Now several things were going to happen, the conclave would be called a new Pope was to be elected. In Enrico’s twisted mind, God was working a miracle for him.

“Well that was convenient” said Cardinal Ricci “Not exactly as we planned, but at least we can truly say we had nothing to do with it.” The other Cardinals nodded. “And he died in London, on the construction site of a Protestant Church” said Cardinal Ricci slowly. “We could find a way to pin it on Hellsing.” As the other Cardinals nodded emphatically at this suggestion, Enrico said, “No”.

“Why not?” demanded Cardinal Bianchi who did not like having his ideas rejected.

“Because when Hellsing finds out about it, it will be bad news for us.”

“What do you mean ‘when’”; asked Cardinal Romano.

“She knew that Dr. Thorton was here and the only way she could have known that was if someone here told her” said Cardinal Piero. The Cardinals glared at one another for several moments until Cardinal Ricci declared; “That’s ridiculous, none of us gain by working with or for that mad woman.”

“And only four people knew about Dr. Thorton, you Salvietti, Cardinal Maxwell, the Pope and Cardinal Verrechio. And since Salvietti and Maxwell are here and the Pope is dead, the only plausible choice is Verrechio”; said Cardinal Romano.

“How could he betray the Vatican to work with Hellsing?” yelled Cardinal Ricci.

“Shh! We will keep an eye on him and what he does. But he can’t know we are to him” said Enrico. We will wait for him to slip up, gather evidence and then confront him.”

“So, we care not going to blame Hellsing for the Pope’s death?” questioned Cardinal Ricci. Enrico shook his head, as much as he would love to bring Integra to her knees, if a thorough and objective investigation was done and the results came back that Hellsing had nothing to do with the Pope’s death then it would all backfire on him and the Vatican, that was something that Enrico did not want. So Hellsing would be spared, besides Integra would have his head, literally. “The most important thing to do now is quickly find out who will be voting in the conclave and have them sway their votes for Maxwell” said Cardinal Romano. Even if they had to bribe or blackmailed their fellow Cardinals, this group would make sure that Enrico became the next Pope and then the real change can begin.

 

Chapter End

**Author’s Note: Dun dun dun! Sam has kids! Who knew? More details about that will come out later, hopefully. I had a list of ways to kill the Pope; from being stabbed, the cliché being shot while giving confession, to even poisoning the Communion wine and him barfing blood all over the altar. Pretty sick isn’t? Of course this is only for the Fanfic, I do not really want to kill the Pope. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter and will join us for the next one.**


	6. Habemus Papum and His Name is Enrico Maxwell

Wings of the Damned

Sapphirewyren

Chapter 6: Habemus Papam and His Name is Enrico Maxwell

 

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing.**

**Summary: Enrico is now Pope, but how’s everyone feeling about that?**

**Suit:** <http://imgur.com/a/PI4FM>

As the white smoke billowed out of the chimney of the Sistene Chapel, the large crowd gathered in Saint Peter’s Square gave a loud cheer. It had been at least a month since the Pope had died and the whole world watched as Cardinal Mario Salviettti came out on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and declared in a loud voice; “Habemus Papam!” The crowd looked in shock as the newly elected Pope greeted them. He was a tall, thin man, with his white hair tied back in a ponytail. The smile he wore on his face was one of arrogance and it reached his violet eyes. Despite the color of his hair, he did not look a day over thirty. However the crowd did not care about any of this after a couple seconds, they were happy that the Catholic church had a leader after the tragic death of its predecessor.

Meanwhile at the CIA Headquarters, Director Douglas watched her TV screen in shock, the very person that the former Pope had denied even existed, was now the new Pope. “I’ll bet that he had something to do with his death.” But now there was technically nothing the CIA could do. With the death of Dr. Thorton, of his journals and proof that he worked for the Vatican disappeared. Douglas blamed Hellsing. Whether the U.N.S.C. gave Integra a tongue lashing, Douglas would never know, but she was sure that she still had her job.

 

**Hellsing Manor**

For some reason, one of the maids though that Integra should know that Maxwell was now the new Pope on the television. But she already knew this was going to be the result, inside sources had confirmed it. Blackmail, bribery and promises was Enrico’s ticket to the papacy. Enrico had no real intention of leading the Catholic church or shepherding people to God. To him it was all about self- importance and power. Integra scoffed at the hypocrisy of his prayer on the screen and walked out of the living room. She could care less if he became Pope, just as long as he remembered her warning or he might find a bullet in his skill, all in the name of protecting her country from the satanic undead.

 

**The Vatican; St. Peter’s Basilica**

Enrico gazed at all the people down in St. Peter’s Square. Some of the people down in that crowd could be ‘citizen vampires or day walkers, who believed that the new priest would carry on his predecessor’s legacy of tolerance. They were going to be in for a rude awakening. He would make sure that they were uprooted from Italy and destroyed. Enrico had many things that he wanted to get done and staring at these idiotic sheep was not one of them. But he had to say a Mass; the sacrifices he had to make. When he was able, he gathered together the Cardinals; Salvietti, Ricci, Romano, Piero and Bianchi and told them that he would revert to the church laws to Vatican I. in a few weeks everything would be as it should. The word ‘tolerance’ would not be in his papacy.

 

**Buckingham Palace**

She may be British and a Protestant, but Queen Charlotte was beginning to feel the full force of the new Pope’s reign. It had been two months since he was elected and it was a tidal wave across the globe. He had banned citizen vampires from all Catholic churches. All priests were to know who they were and turn them away from the doors. “These Satanic creatures cannot be saved, no matter how much they pray; they already belong to the devil.” He had convinced some of Italy’s top leaders to make it a law. Any priest who knowingly allowed these vampires into their churches were immediately defrocked or excommunicated. Now priests in England were pleading with the Queen and the Prime Minister to find some way to repeal what the Pope demanded. The Queen, however was essentially powerless to do anything, because she was the head the Church of England and she doubted that Enrico would listen to any of her suggestions. And if that wasn’t enough, Parliament was pressuring her to get married soon and produce an heir. These were one of those times that Charlotte missed Lord Wyatt. She could use his efficient way of handling things. He would know what to do, but he was killed after he overdosed on Dr. Thorton’s serum Alucardium in hopes of becoming a vampire, by Integra. It seemed that everyone wanted something of the young monarch and as much as she wanted to scream and give up, she had to handle everything with poise and dignity. How the heck did Integra do it? “Well she has had more experience at doing this” came the baritone voice of Alucard as he phased into her private chambers. The Queen squealed with delight as she ran to hug him; “Alucard! You came!”

“Of course, Your Majesty. My master is busy dealing with a pest called the Iron Grin and since my suggestion of eating them goes ignored or annoys her, I thought it best that I visit you.”

Charlotte giggled; “You always suggest eating your enemies.”

“It is a permanent solution, but I prefer my master to direct her anger away from me.”

As his listened to the Queen confide her worries, fears and hopes in him, Alucard was reminded of Integra when she had first become the leader of the Hellsing Organization. The young girl was frightened of the momentous task before her, but one could not tell from looking at her. Just like Integra, Charlotte had to be brave in front of those who were watching.

“Sometime I wish I was born a normal person. Then I could of have had a normal childhood” sighed Charlotte. “Did Sir Integra ever wish for that?”

“There were times when she was younger that she did.”

That made Charlotte feel better, knowing someone like Integra had wished for normalcy. Now this made her curious, she wanted to know more about Integra’s childhood.

“What was Sir Integra like when she was a child?” queried the monarch. Alucard chuckled; “The way she is now, just much shorter.”

“Come on Alucard, you must know some great stories about Sir Integra. Share.”

“I don’t think my master would appreciate me talking about her behind her back.”

Charlotte pouted; “You’re the only one I can ask.”

“Why not ask her herself?” Alucard laughed, knowing that Integra would never talk about herself to anyone.

“You know she won’t tell me anything!”

“I had no idea that Your Majesty was a gossip.”

“I’m not! I’m just curious about the woman who works for me. I think I have a right to know about her, don’t I?”

‘Then ask her. She would know more than me, I was sealed away until she was twelve.”

“How’d you get out?”

“She let me out.”

“Details, Alucard, I want details!”

“There was some blood involved.”

“Stop grinning, Alucard! I promise I won’t tell her that you told me.”

“It’s not my story to tell.”

“Why must you be so annoying? I just want to know about Sir Integra’s childhood.”

“I’m sure she will tell you, if you ask nicely.”

This was getting nowhere, so Charlotte changed the subject, asking Alucard questions about his own past and how he came to work for Hellsing. They talked late into the night and when Alucard returned to the Manor, he expected Integra to have gone to bed, but was not surprised that she was still in her office.

“I thought you would be in bed by now, master.”

“And I thought I told you not to keep Her Majesty up so late. She dozed off at the last meeting.”

“She really had a lot on her mind.”

“She’s infatuated with you. Perhaps someone needs to tell her the dangers of being in love with a vampire.”

“You sound as if you speak from experience.”

‘Perhaps I do.”

The darkened office became very still as vampire king and vampire huntress stared at each other for a few moments. Alucard spoke first; “You are in love with me, master?”

“ _Was_ , Alucard, _was._ That was when I was 16 or 17.”

“But you never said anything.”

“And how exactly would I have benefitted from admitting that?”

Alucard frowned, he had no answer to that question or better yet, didn’t want to answer that question. If Integra had ever told him that, maybe he would have persuaded her to become a vampire, a No-Life Queen. And in her youth and the pressures of being a leader of an organization where the Round Table made it clear that they would have preferred an adult man to a teen girl. But knowing her duty to her country, she remained silent, saying nothing to anyone, taking that secret to the grave.

“And what are the dangers of falling in love with a vampire, master?”

“You lose your charm so quickly, as all men do.”

Alucard stared at Integra dumbfounded; “What do you mean?’

“I feel like the mother of a five-year-old boy sometimes. Stop pestering the staff, Alucard. Don’t try and eat the soldiers, Alucard. What part of ‘I’m trying to work do you not understand, Alucard? Stop trying to dye Seras’ hair green, Alucard. Don’t touch that, Alucard. Put on some damn clothes before going outside, Alucard. If you even think about lighting my hair on fire, there will be some SERIOUS consequences, Alucard….”

“Ok, ok I get it.”

“It’s probably for the best that Her Majesty, not fall in love with you. Maybe you can annoy her out of love with you. It worked for me.”

 

**Hellsing Manor- The Next Morning**

Looking through the folder, Integra only had one word that described the citizen vampires sympathizing group Iron Grin: parasitic. More like a bad case of herpes. This group were humans who thought that citizen vampires needed more rights, specifically the same right as humans. Which to the director was pretty stupid. Now, the Iron Grin had become even more annoying. First, they sent emails and letters, telling Integra, what a despicable person she was for hunting vampires and for murdering citizen vampires, even though cases of day walkers going berserk was extremely rare. At first the letters were mildly amusing, but then they became exceedingly annoying. The good thing was that Integra had people to read the junk mail and dispose of it. When the Iron Grin realized that Integra was not reading any of their correspondence, they tried a different approach. They sent a bunch of people with picket signs, but this proved to be useless, seeing as Hellsing Manor was located in the countryside outside of London and there was hardly anyone around to see them. The last useless attempt to get Integra’s attention was vandalism. This was also another useless ploy, though the vandalism of her property pissed Integra off royally, the staff merely cleaned off the defacement and everyone went on with their lives. The Iron Grin finally gave up trying to get Integra’s attention and went about pestering the police again, with their crimes.

The British police had tried to deal with the Iron Grin and their criminal antics, which included heists on hospitals to steal blood packs to feed citizen vampires and shooting matches with the police, when they realized that it was probably best to let Hellsing deal with them, so now Integra had these lunatics and their crazy leader to deal with. Iris Moynahan, the leader of the Iron Grin, was 26 and had outsmarted people that were twice her age. The tactics used by Iris to achieve her goals were best described as loud, reckless and so crazy, they just might work, kind of like her fiery personality. The Irish born woman was not afraid to try even the craziest of schemes. One day the chief of Scotland Yard told his secretary that Iris reminded him of Integra, only louder and since then, the Iron Grin and their leader became Hellsing’s problem.

At the Iron Grin’s next meeting, it was decided that they needed to do something bigger, bolder if they wanted Parliament and Her Majesty to finally give into their demands. One of the members suggested; “Why don’t we nab the Hellsing bitch? I’m betting the Queen would do anything to get her back.” Another member named Wilt shook his shaggy blond head; “That would not be a smart thing to do. That house is crawling with soldiers, A.I.C.Ds and their newest addition: attack dogs. Also do you really think that you could get in there without coming across that vampire Alucard?” The other members shivered, they had completely forgot about the Hellsing’s vampiric servant.

Another member moaned; “That place is built like some kind of military fortress, it’s better guarded than Buckingham Palace!”

Iris jumped out of her chair, gaining weird looks all around; “That’s it! We’ll kidnap the Queen!”

Chapter End

 **Author’s Note:** Pretty short chapter, but there you have it. There’s a new player in the story and will the Iron Grin go through with their plan of kidnapping the Queen? Will they succeed? Will it be worth it? Til next time.

*Habemus Papam is Latin for “We have a Pope”


	7. Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> See what happens when the group the Iron Grin tries to kidnap the Queen

Wings of The Damned

Sapphirewyren

Chapter 7: Consequences

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing**

**Author’s Notes: I got some not so good news, I will not be updating the “Alucard Discovers” and the “Enrico” series, so I can focus on the rest of this story and part 3 of the “Winds of Change” series. However, I am also working on two new series “The Diary of a Hellsing Butler” and “The (Mis)Adventures of Doggycard”, so the news is not all bad. Okay on to the story.**

**Suit: http://i.imgur.com/6cCPvtN.jpg**

Charlotte sat in her chair with her knees up to her chin, while hugging her legs. She couldn’t stop the tears no matter how hard she tried and no matter how many times she tried to blink them back. The monarch looked at what used to be a pristine room was now filled with bodies, blood and bullet casings. It had happened so fast, Charlotte was still trying to comprehend what had happened. The first thing she had heard was yelling and gunfire outside her room and then at least five men dressed in black military armor burst into her room while tossing the bodies of her guards at her feet. At the same moment, several more men crashed through the windows. They had come to kidnap her and had expected it to be a simple job, but they met an unexpected variable: Integra Hellsing. With the protectiveness of a mother grizzly bear, she had place herself in front of the Queen and without preamble started firing her Beretta at the men who had come through the door and a Sig Sauer sent the intruders who had come through the window, back through the same windows. The commander’s aim had been deadly; so, there were no survivors among the would be kidnappers. During the long silence that followed, Charlotte had prayed someone heard the commotion and called the police. Then the sound of a ringing cell phone shattered the silence, like icicles falling to the pavement. Integra fished the cell phone out of one of the dead men’s pocket and put it on speaker. Iris’ voice could be heard; “Duncan, did you secure the package? Duncan?”

“Package? Is that anyway to refer to Her Majesty? Do try to show some respect!” Iris’ face must have been one of utter shock when she realized who it was who answered Duncan’s phone.

“Integra Hellsing, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“That’s _Sir Hellsing_ to you, garbage. Your little plan to abduct the Queen has foiled, quite miserably.”

“Where’s Duncan and the team?” Iris now sounded a little frantic, which made Integra smirk.

“Have you ever shot a ghoul?”

“What does that have to do with anything? Where’s Duncan?”

“I assure you, it has everything to do with this situation. Have you ever shot a ghoul?”

There was a pause before the Iron Grin leader answered; “Yes, I have once. So where is the team?”

“And where would you aim to kill a ghoul?”

“What is this  ‘20 Questions’? Where is Duncan’s team!?”

“Answer my question.”

“You’d aim for the head to a kill a ghoul! There I answered your fucking question!”

“Now you know where Duncan is.”

With that Integra dropped the phone on the floor and stomped on it.

“What the bloody hell happened in here!?” came the booming voice of the chief of the Scotland Yard, Goddard Pemberton.

“Those Iron Grin idiots tried to kidnap Her Majesty-and failed.”

“I can’t believe those wankers would go so far! How do you know they were the Iron Grin?”

“I just had a pleasant chat with their leader, who seemed to be very concerned about the whereabouts of the team.”

Integra and Goddard turned both turned to the stunned queen who was still in the same position since the incident.

“Poor lass, she must be shocked completely.” Chief Pemberton said softly. A female officer approached the queen and tapped her gently on the shoulder. The Queen jumped a mile high before realizing that she was merely being escorted from the ghastly scene. As Integra gazed around the room, she couldn’t comprehend what would induce the Iron Grin to go to such extremes. It seemed mostly likely their reason was to force her to have Parliament give citizen vampires more rights and freedom from the ‘extermination law’. Integra shook her head, these idealistic fools had no idea what they were messing with. Even if they were weaker that the average vampire, these ‘citizen vampires’ were still stronger than humans and were still monsters. Giving them rights was the same as giving a rabid dog free reign over a local dog park, only bad things could happen.

**Iron Grin Headquarters**

Iris stared at the phone in her hand, she had tried to get in touch with Duncan and the team, to start the next phase of the plan, only to get the Hellsing commander on the phone instead. She knew that could not be possibly good, Duncan always answered his phone. This concerned Iris very much and she got the bad news about the team after answering a bunch of annoying questions. That woman was such a bitch! Why couldn’t she just tell Iris straight what had happened? The young Irish woman grabbed her helmet and jumping on her scooter sped towards Buckingham Palace.

When she reached her destination, the scene was chaotic. Police cars, SWAT trucks and news vans were everywhere, parked haphazardly. Officers ran back and forth trying to keep the media and curious on-lookers from crossing the bright yellow tape strewn across the gates. Iris could see several coroner vans and remembering what Integra had told her previously made her heart sink. She saw several men wheeling out body bags on gurneys. Iris turned to a short woman next to her and asked; “What’s going on?” The woman looked at her with askance before answering; “A group of idiots attacked the Palace.” A man overhearing the question stated; “That’s not all, they say they tried to kidnap Her Majesty!” The woman gasped; “How dare they!” Iris queried; “Do they know who it was?” Both the man and the woman shook their heads. A teen chomping on a large wad of bubblegum supplied the answer; “It was that group of vampire humpers, the Iron Grin.” Iris ground her teeth at the derisive term used to describe her group. The teen continued; “Who else could it be? They’ve been harassing the Queen and Parliament to let the CVs have rights or some crap like that.” “CVs?” the woman asked.

“Yeah citizen vampires, even though I don’t consider them citizens.”

The man interjected; “Damn look at all those body bags. What the hell happened?”

What indeed had happened? The guards that were usually stationed at the gates of Buckingham Palace were not around, meaning that the team had taken them out. Iris tried to hold out some tiny part of hope that maybe even some members of the team survived. Just then Chief Pemberton and Integra exited the building. While the mob of people pressed even closer shouting questions and taking pictures, Iris stood rooted to the spot as she gazed at the Hellsing leader for the first time. Like everyone else that met Integra, the first thing they noticed was the indomitable, commanding aura that she had. As Iris stood staring at this imposing woman in the elegant grey and black suit, it took her minutes to realize that she was staring in the commander’s icy sapphire eyes. “Oh crap! She saw me!” thought Iris. The thought of running came to Iris’ mind, but that would probably be a bad idea. Integra glared at her for a couple of minutes, but then continued walking as if nothing happened and for all the crowd knew, nothing did. Iris breathed a sigh of relief, she NEVER wanted to do that again. The rumors about that Hellsing woman did NOT do her justice. The gates were opened by the SWAT officers, to let Integra get to a nearby waiting car. Even with the mob clambering about her, the director walked on as if no one was there, ignoring all questions. She got in to the car without a backwards glance and left.

Chief Pemberton said; “Tonight Her Majesty, the Queen was attacked by several members of the terrorist group known as the Iron Grin. Fortunately, their plan failed and the Queen is safe. At this moment, Her Majesty is in shock from the ordeal, but otherwise, she is unhurt. The cause of this heinous attack is unknown and I am very sure that the Hellsing Organization is on the hunt for the leader of this group. Information to the press will be released as Hellsing sees fit. That is all” Pemberton also ignored all questions shouted at him as he retreated back behind the gate. Leaving Hellsing to decide whether to release information to the press meant that there wouldn’t be any such thing. As Iris made her way back to where she parked her scooter, she knew that even if the Hellsing director knew what she looked like, she would have her revenge for the team’s deaths.

**Vatican City**

The attempted abduction of the Queen of England, made news world-wide. Enrico laughed at the groups failure. He did not feel sorry for that Hellsing whore. Dealing with those Iron Grin degenerates would keep her too busy to stick her nose in his business. There were some people that sympathized with the citizen vampires in Italy, but not on the crazy scale that Britain had. But Enrico had bigger things to worry about. He had fired more than three quarters of the botched group that the fool Father Castenello had hired. Those who had criminal background, he sent to prison and the rest were told to leave. Enrico decided that those who signed up to join the Swiss Guard and did not make it would join the Iscariot Organization and over the last five months, the barracks were filled with Catholic, disciplined young men. Enrico didn’t see a reason to pay them, as they would be housed, fed and clothed. They would always have a full armory, so there was no need for paychecks. Their pay would be the glory of entering the kingdom of God. On their time off there was training and prayers. Card playing, gambling and drinking were found to be unnecessary and were therefore forbidden. The soldiers had to sign a ten-year contract and of course Father Castenello objected to this loudly and rather vulgarly for a priest. So, Enrico had him transferred to a church in a distant village in the country side of Italy, he would spend the rest of his life there.

But the newly hired troops had to deal with a steady rise in ‘citizen vampire’ attacks. Whether they were frustrated with their conditions or their true nature finally awoken, it didn’t matter to Enrico, they were to be exterminated. The Italian government had essentially given up on hunting vampires due to the lack of knowledge or ineptitude long before Enrico became Pope and this frustrated the people. They felt that those who were running the country were not fit to lead and they were looking for a new leader. Of course, Enrico would not nominate himself outright, instead in his homilies, he preached against citizen vampires, sympathized with the people and their problems with the current government, meanwhile reminding the people who was truly protecting them. The result was exactly what Enrico expected, first there were whispering in houses, then talk on the internet blogs and soon protests in the streets. The people were soon screaming for a change in government. Government officials couldn’t go anywhere without being mobbed, having foodstuffs thrown at them, assaulted and even having their houses broken into. Soon it became so bad that the government decided to give Enrico an advisory role with some power. They were not willing to step down just yet. But any ‘advice’ given by Enrico was put on the back burner and this angered the Pope. The people were also angry when they learned what was happening and the riots began all over again. The people were demanding that the young Pope become the leader of the country. And while Enrico in all his ‘humility’ declined, he did however say he was willing to do anything to maintain peace and security among the people of Italy. However, others argued that to give that much power to the Catholic church was going backwards and those of different religions would be shoved out of Italy. It would also mean losing tourism and businesses. But another argument was that with citizen vampires going wild, the country was already losing business. It seemed like a battle that was stuck at a stalemate. People around the world had their eyes on Italy to see the outcome of what would happen, if the country would remain as it was or become a theocracy.

Chapter End

**Author’s Note: So, what do you think would happen? And if that could happen in Italy, would it happen everywhere? How will others take it? Will Enrico get what he wants? Will the chapters be longer? Find out in the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed!** **J**


	8. With Great Power....

Wings of the Damned

Sapphirewyren

Chapter 8: With Great Power….

**Streets of Rome**

The young woman ran down the street looking back every now and then, to see if the men were still chasing her. She could hear their shouts as they clumsily bumped into other pedestrians. The woman on the other hand gracefully dodged obstacles, keeping her paces in front of her pursuers, but they were a resilient bunch. The woman’s name was Elsa and she was a ‘citizen vampire’ or day walker. Ever since Enrico Maxwell was elected Pope, she started notice some strange things going on.  But that was the least of her problems right now. Her problem right now was that she had caught her pursuers in her apartment when she had come home from work. Apparently, they must have gone there to kidnap her, but their timing was off. She had ran out of the building with the men hot on her tail. As Elsa ran, she thought back on the last couple of months, tolerance for her kind had sank to an all-time low. Why should a vampire run from humans? Even one as weak as she, was still stronger than a human. But fear of being exterminated caused her to keep running instead of standing her ground and fighting. As Elsa turned a corner, she looked despairingly at the huge brick wall that indicated a dead end. She could now see the men that were chasing her. Seeing the manhole, Elsa lifted the cover off and jumped down into the stinking sewers. When the men reached the spot, they saw her last, there was nobody there. “Where the hell did that skank go?” asked one man.

“How am I supposed to know? I was behind you” a second man snapped.

A third man knelt down near the manhole and pointed; “She probably jumped down there. I’m not going in there.” The others agreed with nods of their heads.

“I told you that we were too early, but you said….” stated the first man.

“Shut up! He’s gonna be pissed!”

“Just tell him, she never came home, that’s all it’s not like he’s gonna know.”

“Yeah what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

As the men walked away from the manhole, they failed to notice the listener in the shadows.

**Hellsing Manor- Early Morning**

Integra was in the middle of a dreamless sleep, her idea of a perfect sleep, when it was disturbed when a super excitable draculina burst into the bedroom and plopped onto the bed, all the while shouting; “Sir! Wake up! Wake up!” Integra tried to ignore her, but that became impossible when Seras started to shake her. Why didn’t Sam tell her to go away? Integra sat up groggily; “I’m up, I’m up. The house had better be on fire.” Holding up the morning newspaper an inch away from her boss’ face, Seras said; “It’s much worse.”

What could be worse than her mansion burning down? “Seras, the newspaper is too close to my face” sighed Integra.

“Sorry Sir. I thought, well you know, since you wear glasses….”

Integra took the newspaper from Seras and read the article. She reread it again to make sure that she wasn’t reading it wrong. Then she gave the paper back to Seras without a word.

“What did it say?” asked Sam “Let me see” Seras laid the newspaper down on the bed in front of the tigress and tried not to giggle at the sight of a big cat reading a newspaper.

“Sir, what are we going to do?”

“There’s nothing to do, I just hope I don’t get any bloody phone calls about it.”

“Pope Enrico Maxwell becomes new leader of the Republic of Italy. Official title: Holy Father of Italy…”

Integra sighed, who the heck thought that making Enrico a leader of a country was a good idea? She had a feeling that some sort of manipulation played a role in this ‘election’. As well as he stayed in his pathetic little country and didn’t cross over into Great Britain, Integra could care less. He would probably do something ridiculous that would get him killed anyway. Integra smirked as she got out of bed, today probably wouldn’t be so much of a nightmare after all. Seeing her boss smile, Seras was not sure she liked that. Turning to the tigress who was still reading, Seras said; “Sam, how do you turn the pages with your….um…”

“You mean these?” Sam asked lifting a large white paw. “That’s easy. Like this.” The large paw then shifted into a human hand. Seras looked surprise; “I should have known.”

 

**Rome**

Like every leader, Maxwell was experiencing problems in his regime, mostly because of his super strict rules. Some which consisted of a 10:00pm curfew, no one could be out after said time, unless they had official permission to do so. Only people such as firefighters and police officers were exempt and had a special pass that stated so. Another one of his not so popular rules were the mandatory mass at 9:00am every day. This was Enrico’s way of solving the attendance problem. Every Catholic family was entered an online registry and secret camera in houses made sure that people were not playing hooky from church. And since it was mentioned in the Bible that one-thirds of one’s income must be given to the church; a mandatory donation among working people was also enforced. Enrico despised drinking and so bars, clubs and any businesses that served alcoholic beverages were shut down. Restaurants were the only places allowed to serve alcohol and then it was only wine made in Italy. Customers were only allowed two glasses of wine. If someone somehow managed to get drunk, they had their tongues removed. There were people who tried to have parties and clubbing in their basements, they were arrested and tossed into jail. Speaking of entertainment, the only music that was allowed were classical music and solemn religious music, none of that Kirk Franklin or Mary Mary. *

If these rules were not bad enough, those who were citizens were not allowed to leave the country. Sure, they could go on vacation, but no longer than 2 weeks. And if they did stay for an unpermitted amount of time, special forces were sent to bring them back. Trying to leave, sedition or rebellion in any way was punishable by death by firing squad which was televised publicly. You could be watching a TV show and it would be interrupted by some sod being executed for ‘treason’. Most of the time, though the people didn’t know it, was that most if the ‘traitors’ simply complained about the rules of what was called Maxwell regime. Just like the people in the U.S. would complain about the government. So how did Enrico know who was complaining? Secret police. These people were everywhere, listening in on conversations, making sure that these complaints didn’t turn into plans to overrun the new thearchy government. The secret police took it a step further, by casually starting conversations and tricking people into complaining, when people became smart enough not to grumble out loud. Soon people couldn’t trust even their own friends for fear that they were secret police.

In a small town, outside of Rome, a large silver van with Iscariot Organization written on it pulled up to one of the houses. Several men jumped out and went to houses’ front door and their leader pounded on the door; “Open this door immediately!” after several minutes, the door was opened by a small woman. “We are here for Enzo Capelli!” barked the leader. “He’s…he’s not here” the woman stuttered.

“We know he is here, you can either send him out now or we will drag him out!”

“Please! Please don’t! He’s my only son! He’s just a boy!”

“You know the law! Every male of every Catholic family is required to give their life to God by serving in the Iscariot Organization.”

“He’s so young! He’s only 17!”

Several soldiers pushed past the woman and stormed into her house. Minutes later they were dragging a youth out of the door. “Mama! Help! I don’t want to go!” wailed Enzo. When the mother reached for her son, the leader hit the woman on her head with the butt of his rifle. “Mama!” Enzo struggled harder until he too received a blow to the gut with a rifle. “It’s no use struggling boy. You should be glad to be serving as God’s weapon.” The woman wept as her son was thrown into the van and taken away. Not everyone was dragged kicking and screaming, some joined voluntarily out of fear, and some parents even alerted the Iscariot Organization of the eligible sons of fear that withholding them would bring about some severe punishment.

Several days later in Verona, there was a horrible vampire attack. As Teodora’s mother was tucking her into bed, a berserk day walker crashed through the window of her room. The woman grabbed her daughter and threw her out the door. With one prey gone, the monster lunged for the mother and tore her throat out. The little girl didn’t look back as she ran towards her parents’ bed room, but could hear her mother’s screams as she died. “Papa! Mommy’s hurt!” When Teodora reached the bedroom, she saw two more day walkers feasting on what was left of her father. She screamed and ran towards the stairs. The monster seemed to be everywhere, the little girl turned. Suddenly the front door was knocked off its hinges and men wearing black swarmed the house, dropping the monsters left and right. Teodora could only sit on the floor and wail miserably at the horrendous destruction around her. One of the men picked her up and speaking in a gentle voice said; “Don’t cry little one. All the nasty monsters are gone now.”

“What about mama and papa?”

The man shook his head; “They are with God now.” This was of no comfort to the little girl and she started crying again. The man placed Teodora in a van with other crying children, more casualties of the attacks. They would be placed with relatives, those without would go to the orphanage.

Later at the Vatican, Bishop Andreas Salvaggio, the man to replace Father Castenello, made his report to Enrico and his council. “Earlier tonight would count as a failure. There numerous casualties.”

“The whole point of this was to prevent that!” roared Enrico.

“The serum makes these monsters too unpredictable to control. The men don’t even want to go near them. Perhaps a lower dosage would….”

“No! These monsters should have no memories at all of what they have done!”  exclaimed Ricci. “The last thing we need is if one to escape and blab to anyone.”

“This is not right! There are talks going around the barracks of leaving!”

Enrico glared at the man and sneered; “Perhaps you should remind them that such talks are considered treason.” The other cardinals nodded their heads and Bianchi said; “Also remind them what happens to traitors.”

A couple days previously a man Bartolomeo had been lamenting the new laws of Italy, saying how Enrico had fooled the people and was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He also mentioned that he thought that the new “Holy Father of Italy” was a fishy person, who was not trustworthy. Of course after saying that, Bartolomeo went missing. His friends asked about and didn’t want to believe that the secret police would arrest a half-drunk man. But the next time anyone saw Bartolomeo, was on television live. He was chained to a wall which had bullet holes and large blood stains from previous use. It made matters worse when people saw that his entire household alongside him, including his six-year-old daughter. A narrator speaking in a monotone voice said; “…. This man Bartolomeo Casala and his family have been caught in the act of treason. Listen citizens of Italy acts of treason, betrayal and sedition are prohibited and is punishable by death.” And if some signal was given, the firing squad turned Bartolomeo and his family into swiss cheese. Though this terrible scene frightened many people into paralysis, except one man. Through the shadows of the late night, the man moved like a cat with a mission. He destination: the Vatican City. He made it over the walls and headed towards the renovated Papal Palace. The man wanted one thing; the one thing the people couldn’t obtain: the truth. He was sure there was something going on and he would get to the bottom of it. He came to a room with a door labeled “Archives”, this was a good place to start if any and he smiled at how primitive the look was. Once inside he hacked into one of the computers and an image of a cardinal popped up on the screen, his name was revealed; Giovanni Piero and next to his name, in big bold letters was the word; “traitor”. Enrico had found out that he was an inside man for none other than his hated enemy, Hellsing. As much as Enrico wanted to have the man put to death, he was still weary of her warning. Of course, now it would be even harder for Integra to convince anyone that Enrico was undead, but she already knew this and she didn’t care about convincing people. Enrico was glad he caught Piero before all the new law changes, so he had nothing to tell Hellsing. The spy was sent back to England with Enrico’s own warning that if anymore spies were found, he would not be so lenient the next time, to this which Integra laughed.

Though this was good information, it was not what the man was looking for. He sifted through many meaningless data until he found something. It was about the newly executed Bartolomeo and his family. After the execution, the next day newspapers had ‘evidence’ that Bartolomeo was a traitor; from excerpts of secret phone calls, suspicious emails, and even pictures with unknown people to plot against the regime. Of course, all this was a bunch of bollocks and Bartolomeo’s friends knew he was not that type of man. But the rest of the country believed what the newspaper said. Sure, Enrico had some strange laws but he would never lie to them. Right? What was in Bartolomeo’s file was his real history and after copying the file to a portable drive, the man left a present of his own: another portable drive into one of the main servers so that he could have remote access to the Vatican information. He also left a silver business card that said: THE SILVER MASK.

The next day, the better part of Italy woke up to what they thought was snow. Upon closer investigation, they realized that the white stuff on the ground were pamphlets. On the pamphlets at the very top in blood black letters it read: THE TRUTH and it told the story Bartolomeo Casala as a loving father of four, a devoted husband, who went to church every day before it was mandatory and a hard worker at a small business. This paper told the story of his wife and their children and their hopes and dreams. And how some crazy lunatic decided that they could no longer live because they did not agree with a couple of rules. There were no talk of devious plots and suspicious behavior of sedition. With this new information bought to light, many people were torn. Who was right?

One of the found the calling card and with the pamphlet gave it to Maxwell. And boy he was livid. “How did an intruder get in here without anyone knowing!?” The people around him couldn’t answer that question, so they stared in other direction or shuffled their feet. “It this ‘Silver Mask’ person was able to get this information, imagine what else she stole!!!” The enraged Enrico paced back and forth, this was something he feared. The Silver Mask character could ruin everything. He turned to the guard and yelled; “I want you to find this Silver Mask and bring them to me!” As the guard left, he sighed that was easier said than done. Anyone could be the vigilante, even someone inside the Vatican. The Swiss Guard and the police were unsuccessful in the finding the masked man, so they offered a hefty reward for any information that would lead to his capture. Over the next couple of weeks, this Silver Mask would be bane to Enrico.  People would call in to say saw person wearing a silver mask, but once they looked away, he disappeared. More pamphlets appeared every time there was an execution. Enrico didn’t care about the pamphlets until they started to reveal information about the citizen vampires and other recent monster attacks. Soon anyone caught with one was arrested and cleanup crews worked overtime to make sure none of these pamphlets got into the hands of citizens.

“It had to be that Protestant whore!” raged Enrico. “Who else would it be?”

Bianchi scratched his chin; “Are you sure?”

“OF COURSE, I’M SURE!!”

“If this was Hellsing’s doing, don’t you think she would be kicking down the front door?”  
“Well I haven’t thought about that….”

“I have an idea” Romano declared “Why don’t we throw the people of Italy a party?”

Enrico stared at the man as if he gone off the deep end. “A what?”

“A party. Get out there and meet the people. Show the people that all of the things this Silver Mask is spouting are untruths.”

“Great idea, Stefano!” said Ricci happily “Right now the people are only getting this Silver Mask’s side of things.” Enrico thought about it, even though he wasn’t one for carousing, this seemed like a solid idea. This could counteract all the lies this Silver Mask was spreading and could boost the morale of the country. With the people’s morale boosted, he wouldn’t have to worry about treason and secret plots. And he could remind them of who was protecting the country. So, Enrico finally agreed to it. This would be the biggest party that Italy have ever seen.

Meanwhile in London, the members of the Iron Grin were done lying low and were ready to strike, but who and where would be their first target? Iris wanted to make sure that Duncan and his team were properly avenged.

Chapter End

 

**Author’s Notes: Wow these chapters are pretty short, but I guess that makes it less daunting to read. Who knew Enrico knew how to throw a party? What will the Iron Grin plan and will it succeed this time?  Join us next time for another awesome chapter.**


	9. When Heists go Wrong

Wings of the Damned

Sapphirewyren

Chapter 9: When Heists Go Wrong

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing**

**Suit:** <http://i.imgur.com/nnCevbU.jpg>

**Undisclosed Place in London**

As the last of the members of the Iron Grin, Iris thought back on the last couple of weeks. After the botched kidnapping of Her Majesty, the Hellsing Organization made it their mission to hunt down every member of the Iron Grin, even former members. Any person suspected of being a member was shadowed extensively, while every iota of their private life was turned upside down. If the suspect was an actual member, they were not arrested right away, instead either Hellsing soldiers would pretend to be people interested in joining or they were followed to their hidden hideouts, where meetings were held. Either way to results were the same, a squadron of soldiers would burst into the room and everyone there were hauled away in handcuffs. Not surprisingly, the leader Iris always managed to get away, something Integra found absolutely disgusting. What leader runs off as her followers were being taken away? No matter, that problem would soon be solved.

When everyone finally settled down, Iris looked around the room, there were only 16 of them left. All the Iron Grin members were either in Baskerville Penitentiary or dead. The ones at Baskerville were treated miserably by guards and inmates alike, some even being violated. And the ones that were dead, had learned the hard way that Hellsing bullets weren’t just reserved for monsters. Their bodies were sent back to their families, with a warning from the Hellsing director that they were also under investigation. This did not leave Iris as a happy camper; “We need to strike big and show that Hellsing bitch that we are not to be underestimated.”

“How about we try and kidnap the Queen again? No one would think that we’d do it again” suggested a dark-skinned teen Jack. Other members shook their heads. “No, they will probably have added more guards to her detail” sneered Iris. Wilt raised his hand; “I think that we should hit the New London Blood Bank.” Every head was turned in the blonde’s direction. “Well we need to go big, right? And that place is one of the largest blood banks in the world.” When there was a shortage pf blood about a decade ago, the New London Blood Bank was the answer. The cylindrical building housed over 95% of all donated blood in England. It was built like a bank, as a matter of fact the 30 building was secured better than a bank. There were a number of security measures; cameras and motions sensing lasers were mounted on the walls on every floor. During the night, laser grinds swept periodically across the hallway. There were vaults on all floors and the doors were made of metal and glass, workers needed a special pass key to enter the vaults.  There were also armed guards, that patrolled the hallways and protected the blood day and night. It was needless to say that the blood bank was impenetrable, or so they thought.

“Every couple of months, the bank shuts down its entire security force to perform a diagnostic and maintenance tests” explained Wilt. “Since most of its security is computerized, they want to make sure that everything is running smoothly.”

Everyone smiled, this would be easy. “Imagine Hellsing’s face when we pull this off!” exclaimed Jack. Other members laughed and cheered at the thought of what would be the biggest heist. “I have a friend, who can get the blueprints, it’ll take a couple of days, but he’ll get them” said Wilt. “Great” said Iris “We’ll meet back here, when Wilt gets the blueprints, to prepare” Soon Iris was alone again. The Iron Grin had to get this done right, no mistakes, no failure. They were down to their last members. There haven’t been any new members since Wilt joined about 4 months ago. Ever since he joined the Iron Grin had some very productive projects, well except for the attempted kidnapping of the Queen. And after that fiasco, no one else would join for fear that Hellsing would have them dumped in Baskerville, evidently her favorite place to put anyone. Speaking of Hellsing, Iris had to smirk at the thought of outsmarting her and getting revenge for Duncan. In a couple of days, with Wilt’s blueprints, the Iron Grin would bite back and no one would see it coming.

**Rome, Italy**

Cardinal Bianchi’s plan of throwing a party was much bigger than anyone anticipated. For one, it would last a week and Enrico was not happy about it. However, Bianchi was adamant, claiming that the Pope needed to meet the people and that meant traveling throughout the country, spreading blessing and goodwill. At least he got to say Mass so it wouldn’t look like some heathen festival. Once the celebration got under way Enrico realized it wasn’t so bad. For one there were thousands of cheering people tossing flowers and confetti wherever he went. People bought gifts, asked for blessings and thanked him for protecting them from monsters. Of course, there were at least two Masses everyday, but they did not dampen the people’s mood, it was worth it to them to see their leader among the people, chatting and laughing. This made them feel connected to him, closer to him. And soon the people began to outright reject the pamphlets that the Silver Mask had been raining down on the citizens. They even made a big show of burning them. This pleased Enrico very much, he had gained the people’s hearts and minds and no one would fault him if he chose to execute ‘traitors’ should they arise. While everyone was enjoying the festivities, the Silver Mask lurked in the shadows, watching all his hard work up in smoke, literally. He watched as Enrico as gave speeches, disputing everything that had been in The Truth. And he watched as everyone ate up everything the crooked Holy Father said like fresh baked cannoli. “It looks like the written word isn’t enough anymore” the vigilante said to himself. It was time to take some drastic steps.

Getting into the Vatican City was harder this time around due to the fact that the Silver Mask had broken into the Papal Palace on a couple of occasions. However tonight that was not his goal. While everyone was out partying with the Pope, he had the stroke of good luck of hearing some half-drunk people talking about a building that had a secret sub-basement where the Vatican hid a bunch of monsters such as ghouls and chimeras. They also housed citizen vampires that had been kidnapped and at certain intervals they were released to make it look like a vampire attack and the Iscariot Organization would then go out and recapture them, just to start the process all over again. He also realized that the people talking were scientists hired by the Vatican. The Silver Mask was headed towards the building and its dreadful secret. Surprisingly the unassuming building didn’t have many guards and the ones that were there, the Silver Mask took care of easily. Once inside the vigilante headed straight for the sub-basement. When he found it, it was exactly as the scientists had said, seeing it in person was a completely different thing. The room that housed the monsters seemed to go on for mile and miles. There were hundreds of containment boxes were exactly as the scientist claimed, were ghouls and Chimera. Then in others there were ‘citizen vampires’ who looked dazed and confused. The Silver Mask’s camera caught everything from the day walkers, to notebooks filled with notes that spoke of serums used to cause the day walkers berserk behavior. He made copies of information and after some of the citizen vampires begged him, the Silver Mask decided to set them free. Of course, the fleeing day walkers caused a ruckus that alerted the Iscariot Organization to come running to the scene to try and recapture the newly freed day walkers. However, the Silver Mask helped by tossing a few smoke bombs, that blinded and confused the soldiers. With their heightened senses the day walkers escaped, while the masked man laughed at the soldier’s blunder. When the smoke cleared, all that was left were a couple of silver cards with the vigilante’s moniker on it.

The next morning when Enrico found out about this latest debacle, he was not happy; “How many fled?”

“Well, you see…” stammered Bishop Salviaggio.

“HOW MANY ESCAPED!?”

“All of them, Your Holiness.”

“ALL!?”

Bishop Salviaggio nodded slowly; “However I have men out looking for them right now.”

“This is bad, very bad” muttered Bianchi.

“If this Silver Mask person was down there, who knows what he saw and all the information he has” said Ricci disheartened.

“Nonsense!” scoffed Salvietti “What is he going to do? Write yet another ridiculous pamphlet? People will just think of him as some fool who wants attention. No one will believe him, certainly not after the recent festivities.”

“I still want them recaptured and the next time, we use them, we kill them” demanded Enrico “We cannot take any chances.”

Learning that the day walkers were free again and that the scientists with all their brains, still managed to be stupid enough not to put any GPS tracking device on them, so the Iscariot Organization couldn’t find them was beyond Enrico. Then again, the idiots were just copying the late Dr. Thorton’s work anyway and the Pope would have preferred to have the ‘good doctor’ himself, but thanks to a certain Hellsing director, he was dead. Enrico sighed, everything was going smoothly until damned vigilante the Silver Mask, showed up. He was sure that Integra had sent him or maybe he was hired from long before, but moreover Enrico was sure that Hellsing was behind it and he would send the vagabond back to that whore in several small Ziploc bags. Seemingly all this power, such as disbanding the Round Table had gone to her head, how else would she have the audacity to send spies to the Vatican? How dare that woman? Enrico would make sure that she paid dearly for this. The other Cardinals had left the room allowing him to simmer, how smart of them. For all he knew, they could be working for Hellsing. Was there no one he could trust? How that woman managed to get her gloved claws into everything, he had no idea and now he felt she had him cornered and that was NOT a good thing. However, he had to deal with the Silver Mask first and foremost. He would enjoy the look of abject fear and embarrassment on Integra’s face when he exposed her.

**New London Blood Bank- 11:30**

This was an operation that COULDN’T fail. Iris and the Iron Grin spent days pouring over the blueprints that Wilt had miraculously obtained from his friend. And while some members had questioned how exactly someone could attain the blueprints from a highly secure medical facility, Iris didn’t care. All she cared about was getting this one job right after weeks of failure and members being detained by the Hellsing Organization. Since the maintenance check would be in effect, the only resistance the Iron Grin would encounter would be a few armed guards. They had agreed on a rooftop entrance, that way they could ambush the guards from behind after getting the blood, they would make their way out the front doors and get away in vans waiting for them. If only plans were that uncomplicated. The minute the group were on the 30th floor, the alarms screamed and security gates made of steel slammed down in from of the entrances, trapping the intruders. Armed soldiers then made their way to the trespassers, wrested their weapons away from them, forced them to kneel with their hands behind their heads and handcuffed them. “Shit!” cursed Iris loudly “I thought that the security was supposed to be turned off!” Wilt could only respond with an expression mixed with fear and sheepishness. Iris knew what she was going to do, when the soldiers started to escort them out of the building, she would try and make a run for it. Sure, she would be leaving the other behind, but she could always recruit new members. But the guards just kept their weapons trained on the intruders. The only sound that could be heard was the occasionally dinging sound as the elevator passed each floor. Wait why was the elevator moving? Who was coming? The Iron Grin members looked in horror was the person that stepped off the elevator was the last person they wanted to see: the commander of the Hellsing Organization, followed by a tall man in crimson. Integra couldn’t help but smile at the scene before her; the last of the Iron Grin couldn’t have been in a more perfect position: kneeling in front of her. The elusive leader that was always steps ahead of authorities was right where Integra wanted her.

“I had hoped you would be a little smarter than this” Integra said smoothly.

“What are you doing here?” demanded Iris.

“I’m just here to congratulate everyone on a performance well done.”

Confused, Iris asked; “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Who do you think provided you with the proposals for this little ‘operation’?

Iris turned to Wilt who, instead of being handcuffed like the rest of the Iron Grin members, was now leaning against the wall with his arms crossed; “You bastard! You betrayed us!”

“I had always worked for Hellsing. I never really agreed with the things you did, well except for things you did on _certain_ nights. Anything to get the job done, toots.”

While some of the Hellsing soldiers chuckled, Iris turned red as the blood she had hoped to steal. “So the heist for this bank was….a part of Hellsing’s plan too?”

Wilt nodded his head. Iris lunged at Wilt despite being handcuffed by was restrained by two soldiers; “YOU FUCKING BASTARD! YOU NEVER CARED ABOUT DUNCAN, RICHIE OR THE OTHERS!!”

“Why should he? They were a bunch of filthy traitors like yourself” said Integra icily.

“Shut up, you bitch! They were….”

“What? Martyrs? They were not heroes who gave their lives to some great cause, little girl. They were filthy dogs and I put them down exactly as such, so you should be stop barking like one or you will receive the same treatment as your little band of misfits.”

Iris scowled rebelliously at the director, nevertheless did not say anything else. How could everything go so wrong? Was this the end of the Iron Grin? She had to escape. Iris looked towards the elevator Integra had used and saw that even though the doors were closed it was still on the same floor and there were no security gate blocking it. Great now she needed a distraction. Iris saw that some of the soldiers had smoke grenades, including the soldier standing closest to her. If she could grab it, even if she had to use her teeth, she could deploy it and get to the elevator. But what Integra said next changed Iris’ plans to escape; “If you try to run, I promise you, you will not make it.” Then turning her glare to the rest of the members; “You clowns will be taken to Baskerville Penitentiary until the day of your execution.”

“What!?” exclaimed one member “We didn’t kill anyone!”

“Treason against the Crown is punishable by death. When you buffoons colluded together to kidnap Her Majesty whether you physically took part in it or not is still treason! I suggest you mentally prepare yourself for the horrors of that place.” The tone of voice in which Integra said this grated on Iris’ nerves. The bitch sounded like she was enjoying the looks of dismay on the Iron Grin member’s faces as she told them that they would be spending the rest of their lives in Baskerville. That facility itself was a sentence as prison deaths and riots happened daily. Even visitors were dissuaded from going, for fear that they could be harmed in one of the unexpected riots. Iris charged at the Hellsing Commander like a linebacker charges a quarterback, but Integra saw that coming. She took a step back and grabbed Iris by the back of her shirt and winded the Irishwoman with a hard knee to the gut. “Your want for revenge is causing you to make poor choices” sighed Integra. The commander then ordered the soldiers to the intruders away when one of the soldiers went to grab Iris, Integra said; “She stays here.”

“Why? So, you can torture me or something?” retorted Iris.

Integra rolled her eyes, were all Irish people this stupid or was this broad bred specifically for stupidity? She grabbed Iris by the front of her shirt and pulled her close, and growled; “You have just entered the lion’s den and you’re not going to leave alive.” Iris was then shoved towards the tall man in, who had been deathly quiet the entire time. “Alucard, do leave something behind so that she is identifiable, other than that enjoy your meal.” Meal? Iris looked at Integra and then way up at the vampire, who was now wearing a fanged grin that stretched across his face. “You can’t….no….” pleaded Iris. Alucard grabbed the woman by the shoulders, leaning in close he inhaled deputy; “It is such a rare treat, that my master allows me to feast on fresh blood. A rare treat indeed. One that I will enjoy immensely.” The vampire then bit into her jugular and drank deeply. Iris’ screams were heard all the way to the first floor. The last thing the Iron Grin leader saw was Integra light up a cigar with a most bored expression on her face.

 

**Early Morning- Hellsing Manor**

The first thing in the morning, Enrico’s voice was something that Integra did not want to hear. But somehow because he was Pope, Philip had thought that he was important enough to talk to her. Integra made a mental note to remind Philip, that only she knew who was important enough to talk to her. There were not enough liquor and cigars in the world to deal with this sorry Italian pissant.

“What do you want, Enrico? And makes it fast, I don’t have an eternity nor the patience to deal with your nonsense.”

“Is that anyway to greet a man such as myself?”

“Five minutes. That’s all you get and I’m being generous, by four minutes.”

For once Enrico used his brain and realized that Integra was not in a good mood. “I believe that you have sent over another pathetic spy, this time a filthy vigilante, _Miss_ Hellsing.”

Integra’s eye twitched at the use of the title ‘Miss’ she hadn’t been called that since she was a teen, before she was knighted. He did it on purpose because he knew how much she hated it. “I do not know what you are talking about.”

“Do not sully my ears with your disgusting lies, Miss! I know you sent him. This moron calls himself the Silver Mask, a name almost as stupid as Hellsing.”

“Perhaps you shouldn’t spend so much time partying, _Your Holiness_. Clearly someone must have slipped something into your drink, and it’s messing with your thinking!”

Integra hung up the phone and smashed it to pieces on her desk, she then tossed its broken remains, missing the butler by mere inches. The director turned a blazing glare towards Philip and snarled; “Get Sam and Johansen in here. NOW!”  A couple of minutes later Johansen and Sam walked into the office. Johansen made no statement about the shattered phone, Sam however gave a long whistle and said; “Damn, what did the phone do to piss you off, Sir?” Integra ignored the question; “I just have a lovely chat with Maxwell and he accused me of sending some vigilante who goes by the name the Silver Mask. Apparently, the man’s gone even more insane. All that idiotic partying has made his head softer. However, I believe there is some validity to this person’s existence. Johansen, I want to scour the internet for ANY sign of this person. I want any information, no matter how miniscule.” Johansen saluted; “Yes sir! I’ll get right on it.” When Johansen left, Sam asked me; “You want me to give you a massage?”

“You’re going to Italy, if that bastard wants to accuse me sending people into his third-rate country, it would be unfair to make a liar out of him, seeing he has so many other faults already. You are to find the person behind the mask.”

“Sir you know that’s the same as looking for a needle in a haystack?”

“Then you’d better get started. And there’s one more thing I need you to do, when you’re there.” Integra went over to the gun locker and took a small branding iron with the Hellsing coat of arms on it and tossed it to the assassin; “Remind that dickless, ponytail wearing pile of shit that I AM THE WRONG BITCH TO MESS WITH!”

An hour later Sam had packed her bags for the trip. She was not happy about this assignment for the reason was now that her sleep routine would be all messed up. Even though now she did not need to be in the same bed as Integra, she still needed to be same building. She sighed and just as she was having less nightmares. Sam went into Integra’s bedroom closet and one of the commander’s blazers, a navy blue one and left a note. Besides it was not like her boss was going to miss it, she had about a million others. Seras helped put Sam’s bags in the trunk of the car, even though Sam didn’t need the help. “Do you have to go?”

“Unfortunately, I do. You know I can’t say no to Baby Cakes.”

“Can I come with you?”

“Sorry Kitten, no can do. Besides I need you to keep an eye on the boss lady.”

Seras sighed and nodded; “Ok Sam, I will.”

Sam waved to Integra, who was standing a bit off; “I’ll be back in your bed before you know it, Baby Cakes.” Integra made no response. Sam winked at Seras; “That smoldering glare is going to be in my dreams tonight.” She then gave Seras a quick kiss on the lips, which surprised the draculina, got into the car and was on her way to the airport. “If that’s the way she says goodbye to everyone, I’m going to have to bring her everywhere, just so she doesn’t kiss me” sighed Integra.

“I didn’t know she was going to kiss me” said a flustered Seras before running inside the manor. Integra smiled it would be nice to have the whole bed to herself, she then took the note out of her pocket.

Hey Baby Cakes, I’m borrowing one of your blazers. I

I know you won’t mind

Love Sam

 

Chapter End

 

**Author’s Notes: This was one of the most difficult and most fun chapters to write. Difficult because that botched heist was written one way, then I was stuck, then I rewrite that part in the library and while waiting to get my flu shot. Next chapter Sam is in Italy. What will she find? Will Hellsing find out about the Silver Mask? What will happen if they do? Iris’ death was inspired by an episode by the Hellsing anime, (Not Hellsing Ultimate) I thought that was pretty amazing.**


	10. Of Cyanide and Branding Irons

Wings of the Damned

Sapphirewyren

Chapter 10: Of Cyanide and Branding Irons

**Author’s note: Here’s the next chapter. Sam is in Italy and is looking for the Silver Mask**

**Rome Ciampino Airport**  
  


The first thing Sam noticed when she arrived at Rome Ciampino Airport was the amount of security. Several decades ago when she was in Italy there were not as many security patrols. Actually, it was the type of security that got Sam’s attention. The men wore mostly black fatigues with the purple and silver logo of the Iscariot Organization. Their gaze swept over the throngs who passed through the arrival gates as if they looking for someone in particular. Sam was now glad that Integra had her fly a commercial jet instead of a private jet. She still got to sit in first class, Integra was not some uncivilized monster. As Sam made her way to Residenza Cellini she noticed that in the streets of Rome were the same; Iscariot soldiers patrolling everywhere. Sam also noticed plain clothes police trying to blend in with the crowd of citizens. “That’s weird, I thought that Iscariot only showed up when there were vampires” the shapeshifter said to herself. The atmosphere of Rome was also noticeably different from the last time Sam had visited. It had a sense of heaviness, sadness and melancholy; as if it had never known any happiness. When Sam arrived at her room, she flopped down on the bed. How on earth was she going to find one single person in a country of over 3 million? Integra was asking for the impossible! Enrico had not been very forthcoming with any information about the Silver Mask, only that he was a male vigilante. Sam supposed the reason why Enrico didn’t give any information was due to his own lack of intel. That and even if he knew, he wouldn’t tell Hellsing anyway, so now she was here looking for someone invisible. He mostly did his deeds in Rome or Enrico wouldn’t be complaining, so that was something. And since the Silver Mask waited until night, Sam figured she could catch a couple of z’s before looking for the preverbal needle in the haystack.

Streets of Rome 6:00pm

It was too early for the Silver Mask to be out, but Sam felt compelled to walk around and get a sense of her surroundings and observe the people. “Where are all the clubs? How’s a girl to have a good time?” Sam muttered to herself after seeing the sixth building that she knew was a club, but now had a “for sale” sign or was turned into a new business completely. A man passing by heard her and said; “Those places are no longer allowed. They incite lust and debaucherously like behavior.” He then walked away but not before giving the shapeshifter a dirty look. “Hey! Keep looking at me and I’ll shove my boot up your ass!” This threat man sent the man scurrying. Sam soon found herself in front of a large cathedral. Since everything else in this country was boring Sam figured that she might as well check it out though she was not really a religious person. When Sam entered the building, she saw that an evening Mass was taking place and a very obese Cardinal was presiding over it. Then a strange smell hit her nose and it was coming from the large golden chalice that the Cardinal was holding. Sam could smell the wine, but it was the underlying odor she was concerned with. It was poison! It was a mixture of oleander and cyanide. She watched in horror as the fat Cardinal, lifted the large golden cup to his lips and chug all the contents. Weren’t they supposed to only take a sip? As she ran forward, several guards grabbed her. “Dammit! Let me go, you clowns! That fat priest was just poisoned!” The whole congregation and the guards looked at her in awe. The cardinal scoffed; “What do you mean, I’ve been….” The sentence was not finished before the cardinal’s eyes bulged and he vomited blood all over the altar. He bought his hands to his mouth as another set of vomiting occurred. The congregation members screamed and ran for the exits. Looking up at the balcony, Sam caught a glimpse of something shiny. The Silver Mask! Sam broke out of the stunned guards’ grasp and leaped up into the balcony, but the vigilante was already gone. Sam sighed, she hated giving Integra bad news.

**Hellsing Manor**

Even before he was in front of the office doors, Philip could hear his boss yelling. Oh, great another telephone call that pissed her off. Integra had a terrible habit of breaking things when she was angry. All the tea in the world in the world couldn’t calm Integra when she was on this level of pissed. As he opened the door, Philip saw Integra screaming into the phone; “What the hell do you mean he’s dead?!” The person on the other end said something and Integra slammed the phone down. When it looked like she was going to throw it, Philip said; “Sir, before you throw that, I must tell you that we are running low on replacements.” Integra glared at him for a moment, but did not throw the phone. When Philip set the tea tray down and poured a cup of tea, Integra asked; “What about cups?”

“Sir?”

“Are we running low on tea cups?”

“Ummm…no sir we are not.”

Philip regretted that answer instantly, because Integra downed the tea like a shot a whiskey and then threw the cup against the wall, shattering it. Philip sighed; “I take it the phone call was bad news?”

“However, did you guess? Apparently Cardinal Antonio Ricci was assassinated by the Silver Mask.”

Integra sighed, she knew what to expect next; a phone call from Enrico, probably to lay the blame at feet. The idiot couldn’t comprehend that not all the citizens in Italy were happy with his rules. No amount of parties and festivities would make people happy. Unfortunately, Enrico had been so paranoid that he only consulted with about four Cardinals about everything, none of them being her contacts in the Vatican, so Integra had no idea what Enrico was doing, but is she could get a hold on this Silver Mask fellow, she’d find out. Integra sighed again, this was going to be a long next couple of day. Just then the phone rang.

 

**Vatican City**

When Enrico found out that Cardinal Ricci was murdered, angry was not the word to describe it. “It was that damn Silver Mask wasn’t it?”

“Yes it was” confirmed Bishop Salvaggio. “There was also a suspicious woman, who knew that Ricci was poisoned. We ran her face throughout database and nothing showed up. We suspect that maybe they are working together.”

“I know it’s that Hellsing sow! Who else? She’s sending her people here!”

“We are trying to get in contact with Hellsing now…”

“Don’t even bother, she most likely won’t answer. We’ll go a different route. Contact the United Nations, I consider this a breach of jurisdiction.”

“I can’t believe she’d have Ricci killed in church, while he was doing a Mass” exclaimed Salvietti. “Has she no respect for anything?”

“Find that unknown woman! I know she’s working for Hellsing!”

A guard came in and whispered something into Salvaggio’s ear. When he left the bishop turned to Enrico, “Your Holiness, it would see you’re right, that woman came off a flight from London, her name is Sam Hopkins, most likely an alias.” Enrico chuckled; “Integra thinks she’s so smart. The little girl is playing a dangerous game.”

Cardinal Bianchi entered the room and said; “The U.N. said the meeting is going to happen in 3 days.”

“Fine, but Hellsing is NOT to know of this, we need to catch that bitch off guard for once!” This ought to teach that woman a good lesson!

 

As he made his escape from the cathedral, the Silver Mask was sure that the unknown woman must have been a day walker or something of that matter because she could tell that there was poison in the chalice. He had made sure that he was not seen when slipping the poisonous concoction into the bottles of wine. So how she knew was beyond him. It mattered little to him, she was not chasing after him now, so he could acquire his next target.

Sam followed the scent of the Silver Mask until she lost it because it was soon muddled among the of the other scents of the city. Sam sat down on a nearby bench; “I’m not a fucking bloodhound” the shapeshifter scowled “What the hell am I doing?”

“Such foul languages from one so pretty” came a voice from above Sam. She looked up a tall man in dark priest’s clothes.

“Buzz off, priest. I’m busy.”

The priest tilted his head; “You look like you’re busy being idle.”

“I’m still busy, so unless you want me to tear you to shreds you’d better move along.”

Surprisingly the priest chuckled; “Sir Integra did say you’d be cranky after she was done yelling at you.”

‘Well she was…what did you say?”

“Sir Integra sent me to find you, Sam.”

“And you are….”

“I’m Father Luca Castenello, pastor of the Santa Rose della Vergina Maria* church in Tuscany. By now the Iscariot Organization know you are here, so you might want to lay low while searching for this Silver Mask fellow.”

“I thought Sir Integra hated Catholics, why would she work with one?”

“I think she just despises Catholics, like Maxwell.”

Sam figured if she had to lie low, it might as well be with someone who knew about Hellsing. She knew better than to trust him outright, but Integra was not stupid, so maybe this priest could be useful. A couple minutes later, Sam was on her way to some remote church in the hills of Tuscany, not exactly where she thought she would be. The church itself was a small stone building with a heavy wooden door with a large cross nailed to it. The inside was quaint and cozy with 24 wooden pews lined up in two rows of 12. The altar was made of oak and the size of a standard office desk. The six stained glass windows depicted various images of the Virgin Mary including one where she held a single bright crimson rose. Sam suspected that was where the church got its name from. “Wow, this place is dinky” commented Sam. Father Castenello’s laugh vibrated around the small building; “Yes Enrico made sure that I was sent to the most miserable place he could find. The joke’s on him, I actually prefer this to the politics of the Vatican city.”

“What did you do to piss off?”

“A lot. But the one that got me here was disagreeing with his ideas of running the Iscariot Organization.”

“Iscariot? Integra is full of surprises. She hates these bastards with a passion. Passion, I think that be put to better use- like having a good toss between the sheets.”

Father Castenello laughed again and said “Let’s go and see what Sister Isabella cooked for dinner.” The two headed towards a larger brick building. It was surrounded by a white picket fence and in the front yard were a couple of chickens and goats, which panicked at sensing what Sam was. “Don’t think about eating the animals or Sister Isabell will have a fit” chuckled Father Castenello. Sam just rolled her eyes. Sister Isabell was happy to have a guest for dinner, even an unexpected one. As the three sat down to eat, the topic went from a light hearted tone of where the other priests were to the serious note of the missing day walkers and the Iscariot Organization.

“When Enrico became Pope, he had no tolerance for day walkers. They weren’t allowed in churches and they have even less rights then before. The rule is that priests are supposed to turn them away, but I find that I can’t disallow anyone from entering God’s house. So then were a day walkers in the congregation. Besides I couldn’t really tell the difference anyway. There was one in particular named Alberto who came to Mass every Sunday and he would stand in the corner, head bowed for the entire Mass and since he never bothered anyone I let him be. Then he suddenly stopped coming. At first I wasn’t worried, but soon more day walkers who were regulars stopped attending Mass and then I became worried.”

“You weren’t worried that Enrico might send Iscariot after you for letting day walkers going to church?” asked Sam.

“No, I didn’t care about that. I figured that he forgot about a tiny church in the sticks anyway. Sometimes we barely have bread for communion. One evening I heard a noise that sounded like a large truck and I watched as the Iscariot Organization soldiers opened the back and release what I thought at first were Chimera, but when one of them turned their heads in my direction, I saw it was Alberto. But he did look like he normally looked. His eyes were red and black and he had huge fangs in his mouth, nothing at all like his usual quiet demeanor. The day walkers attacked people and then Iscariot shows up and make it looks like they are saving people, when they were most likely just knocking them out and carting them off to do it all over again.”

Sister Isabella handed Sam a newspaper article that spoke of a successful extermination of a group of day walkers that ‘attacked’ people and it also stated that there were no causalities. “It’s a lie, I was there for that one and I saw three people get killed!” said the nun. This new information stunned Sam. How could anyone do that? Wasn’t the job of the Iscariot Organization to protect the people from vampires? What the heck was wrong with Enrico? Father Castenello got up from the table, went to a closet and took a box down from the top shelf. Even though the box was labeled ‘Bibles’, he took out a stack of pamphlets. “This is what the Silver Mask was giving people.”

“The Truth? What a fitting name” said Sam.

“He wanted people to know what the Vatican was truly doing, but then Enrico threw a huge country wide party, shifting the people’s attention” said Sister Isabella.

“Well then, let’s shift the people’s attention again.”

“I saw this on the altar one Sunday” said Father Castenello holding up a DVD. “When I saw, what was on here, I was appalled.” The priest played the DVD, on it the person holding the camera, showed the caged Chimera, dazed day walkers who had come down from their induced high and ghouls that stumbled around in their enclosure oblivious of the walls that held them in. “This is what the Vatican is hiding from the people. The great Enrico Maxwell claims to protect his people when he really puts them in mortal danger!” The footage showed documents and writings about the serum used on the day walkers and their information on their lives, which explained how they were captured. The video then skipped several days ahead, it revealed a pack of Chimera tearing through the streets attacking people. The only difference about this ‘attack’ was that the Chimera wore large shock collars that activated every time they approached too closely to a human. But not all the Chimera was affected by the shock treatment and people were still torn apart. As short while a couple large trucks came into view and several men stunned the monsters and placed them in the back of the vehicles, just as Father Castenello had said previously. There were numerous more scenes like this on the DVD before it cut off. The three sat still for a couple minutes. Father Castenello had already seen the footage, but the two women had to process exactly what they just viewed.

“Why not release this on the media?” asked Sam.

“The new government controls all forms of expression. Everything is scrutinized and reviewed before it is aired” explained Father Castenello. “Also, all radio and television studios are heavily guarded, the Silver Mask would need an army to get inside.”

“And I have to still look for the guy…”

“I know Sir Integra wanted you to find out who the Silver Mask, but maybe it’s best to let him expose Enrico” said Father Castenello. Sam scratched her head, if the Silver Mask killed Cardinal Ricci, it was most likely that he would go after the other three cardinals in Enrico’s little circle, so she could wait until he went after Maxwell to confront the Silver Mask. This saved her from searching all over the country. “Well Sir Integra did say to find out who the Silver Mask was, she never said anything about stopping what he was doing.”

**Three days later- Saint Peter’s Basilica**

The funeral for Cardinal Antonio Ricci was held on the morning of the meeting with the UN. The turnout was a large affair, as the Cardinal was pretty popular. Cardinal Salvietti was one of his closest friends. He had always thought that Ricci would either die from laughing too hard or from eating too much. Projectile vomiting his liquefied insides all over the altar was not the way anyone thought that Ricci would go. Salvietti looked around at the congregation as they lined up to receive communion. Noticeably missing was the wine, on one wanted to take a chance that it was poisoned. Completely understandable thought Salvietti. He had spent the last couple of days drinking tap water afraid of anyone handling his drinks. With the Silver Mask, still on the loose and no one knowing his identity, trust and morale among the people sank. Damn that Silver Mask! As the Cardinal held up a communion wafer for the next patron, he saw a glint of silver. Salvietti froze, there in front of him with a dark hooded sweater and his trademark mask on, Silver Mask! “Hello Salvietti” the vigilante whispered “I have a gift for you.” With that the Silver Mask stuck a thin serrated knife into the Cardinal’s kidney. He stabbed repeatedly, the jagged blade of the knife essentially pulling out the older man’s insides. A woman screamed and the Silver Mask bolted towards the doors, several guards stepped forward and blocked his path. The masked man threw a couple of smoke bombs and while guards coughed and sputtered, he disappeared. “He sure does know how to make a scene” muttered Sam as she watched from the shadows.

**Late Evening- Hellsing Manor**

**Suit:** <http://i.imgur.com/G8o6B3w.jpg>

Integra sat her desk, staring at the remains of yet another phone. The blasted thing was ringing all day-quite literally ALL DAY. She did not have time to hear Enrico ranting at her about spies, vigilantes and silver masks, it was sad really.

“You know, master, you should try and conquer your anger” purred Alucard, who had phased into the spacious office. “Besides, I think we are running out of phones because you keep throwing them.”

“Well you’ll be happy to know that I didn’t throw this one, I merely put several bullets in it.”

Alucard chuckled; “There really isn’t a difference, if the phone no longer works.”

Integra sighed, for once Alucard was right, not that she’d be stupid enough to tell him. Letting Enrico get her pissed was not good, but the Italian pissant had a way of getting under her skin. If Integra could clock him in the mouth, just one good punch was all she needed, then she’d feel better. Philip walked into the office; “The phone is for you, Sir. But seeing you how you treat the phones, I’m not comfortable giving you this one.”

“You don’t have to, tell who ever it is that they can go and piss off!”

“It’s Mr. Adebiyi Obademi, President of the United Nations Security Council.”

A thin platinum eyebrow was arched; “What does he want?”

“He says it has something with you breeching jurisdiction regulations. He insists that you log on immediately. He sounded quite upset.”

“I can only wonder what Maxwell was whispering in his ear.”

 

The meeting was supposed to start 25 minutes ago. Obademi looked at his watch and sighed. Just as he was about to reschedule the meeting, the image of the Hellsing director flickered into view. “You’re late, Sir Hellsing” fumed the president. The expression on Integra’s face was anything apologetic; “You’ll have to forgive me, I am used to attending meetings in person, not with this damnable technology.”

“Sir Hellsing, Maxwell says that you have sent personnel into Italy without consulting him” stated Miyamoto. “Is this true?”

“Yes”

“SHE’S LYING!!.....wait what?” said Enrico. “I thought she was going to deny it….” Integra rolled her eyes, yeah someone slipped something into his drink.

“And can you tell us why you didn’t consult Maxwell?”

The director shrugged; “I don’t like him. Talking to him is the same as talking to a pig. Though I’m sure the pig has more reasoning ability.” Enrico’s face turned red, but before he could have another outburst, Obademi said; “Sir Hellsing, there is no need for insults. Did you send a vigilante called the Silver Mask to Italy?”

Integra chuckled; “Are you people drinking the same thing Maxwell is? No, I did not send some clown called the Silver Mask.”

“You are lying, sow!” screamed Enrico “I know you sent him! He killed Cardinal Salvietti during Cardinal Ricci’s funeral!”

“I give him points on creativity.”

“I knew it! She sent him!”

“Maxwell! There is no need for yelling!” exclaimed Miyamoto. The U.N. director then held up a picture, it was of Sam at the airport; “Do you know this woman, Sir Hellsing? She was at the scene of Cardinal Ricci’s murder and somehow know that he had been poisoned.”

“Yes, she works for me.”

“And what is she doing in Italy?”

“Looking for this Silver Mask clown. Even though she’s sure taking her damn time.”

“I know that’s a lie! She’s probably been sent to kill me!” said Enrico.

“You forgot already Maxwell? I said if you do anything stupid, I would kill you.”

Enrico turned to the two U.N. officials; “You see? You can’t believe anything she said. She already lied to you once.”

Miyamoto cleared her throat; “You forget that you and the former pope lied as well. This is just a squabble between two people who don’t like each other, a waste of time.”

The Hellsing commander scoffed; “That’s the smartest thing I’ve heard any of you asses say.”

Miyamoto glared at Integra; “Excuse me?”

“You’re excused. Let me tell you this once and one time only once, the Hellsing Organization DOES NOT answer to any of you. So, you will not call me to pointless meetings like this because this pissant whines to you every time he messes up. I have important things to do and spending valuable minutes staring at your mugs is NOT how I want to spend them. And next time have the meeting in person, I’m not doing this damn hologram crap. I’d rather see my victims squirm face to face.” At seeing their stunned expressions, Integra smirked and lit a cigar. Enrico looked like he was going to explode; “You dare speak to me in that rude manner, Miss Hellsing!?” He was hoping to get Integra mad by calling her ‘miss’, however the broadening of her grin was not what he expected; “This is war! WAR MISS HELLSING!” By now, Integra was doing her best not to crack it up; “Oh Maxwell, you’ve neither the intelligence nor the stones to go to war with me. But if you insist, I will rain hell down on your pathetic little country.”

“You bitch…”

“Yes, I am a bitch. A bitch you don’t want to mess with. A word of advice, little boy, worry about that Silver Mask fellow because as I recall you have two more Cardinals in that boys club of yours.” The commander looked at her watch; “Looks like it’s time for tea. I wish you all a good evening.” When Integra logged off, the other three sat staring at each other for a good minute. The was not how they expected the meeting to go. The U.N. officials logged out silently leaving only Maxwell. When he finally logged off, he was angry. He had hoped to get some answers and had wanted U.N. to put some restrictions on Hellsing, but she made it clear that nothing the U.N. would do could hinder her. He was sure that the Silver Mask was working for her. No matter he would find that vigilante and he would make sure that Integra gets a front row seat to his execution.

Meanwhile in a nearby church, the Silver Mask walked out of a confessional. There was still one more thing that needed to be done. Soon all the madness would be over and Italy would go back to the way it was. No more needless executions of innocent people and all these so called ‘attacks’ would end. The Silver Mask’s next target was the oh-so-great leader, the Holy Father, Enrico Maxwell. He made his way outside the Holy Father’s window. He knew that Enrico never slept unless he that he was properly guarded. The Silver Mask dispatched of the guards around Enrico’s room and made his way stealthily into his room. He took out a metal stake, how a fitting way for him to die, like the creatures that he pretended to protect the people from. Just as the Silver Mask was about to drive the stake into Enrico’s chest, he caught movement out the corner of his eye. When he turned around, the vigilante found himself staring into the hazel eyes of a copper hair woman. “You do know that if you kill him, they will just replace him with someone who is the same, right?”

“So, you’re saying that I should let him live, it that it?”

“For now, everyone still believes that this idiot is without sin. But you have proof that shows that’s not true. And if you hear me out, I’m sure the people will finally see the truth.” The woman handed him one of the first pamphlets he had made. “Believe it or not, there are quite a few people who are waiting for some kind of sign to revolt against this façade of a government.”

“Why are you helping me?”

Sam grinned; “I want the clubs and nude beaches back.” The Silver Mask laughed softly; “I guess I’ll hear your plan out then.”

“Great. But first I have a little gift from Sir Integra for Enrico.”

A couple minutes later there was aloud shriek as Enrico was branded on his chest with the Hellsing logo.

Somewhere in London, a certain director smirked.

 

Chapter End

**Author’s Notes: We are finally at the end. So what happens next? What is Sam’s plan? Will Enrico need to half of his chest removed? Will the people learn the truth and if so, will they believe it? Join us in the last chapter.**

 

 


	11. The Truth and Nothing But the Truth

Wings of the Damned

Sapphirewyren

Chapter 11: The Truth and Nothing but the Truth

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing**

**Author’s Notes: So here we are, the last chapter is finally here. It’s been a great ride, so let’s get started.**

**Suit:** <http://i.imgur.com/hfD1Jef.jpg>

The truth can be a brutal thing. It can hurt like a punch to the heart or a kick to the boys. When found out, it does not come out like the drip-drip of a leaky faucet, but with the force of a typhoon or a dam that broke. It washes over you like a wave, but it’s effects are everlasting. Its meaning so profound, stays with you for a lifetime. It is something that one will always remember and if you forget it for even a moment, it will remind you. That was what happened this fine day in two separate countries. The truth came out and once out, there was no stopping the events that would follow.

**Rome, Italy**

Luigi Santos was the custodian at the Church of Saint Stephen of the Abyssinians for 25 years and his job was fairly quiet. After all the Masses were finished for the day, he would get out his cleaning equipment and methodically work his way from entrance to the Sacristy sweeping and then mopping. He’d scrape the gum from underneath the pews and vacuum the carpets. It was a routine that he was accustomed to. What Luigi did not expect  was find the body of Cardinal Stefano Bianchi dead in one of the confessionals with a bullet to the head. And he really did not expect to find Cardinal Pietro Romano dead in a second confessional killed in the same way. Luigi sighed today was going to be a long day.

Bishop Salvaggio surveyed the scene at the cathedral, he had been called early that morning to investigate the deaths of two more Cardinals. These two had also been members of Enrico Maxwell’s inner circle. This totaled all four of them dead. What kind of message was trying to be sent? Late last night, Enrico had been attacked by none other than the Silver Mask and his copper haired accomplice. The woman had branded him on the chest with the Hellsing logo. The Holy Father was NOT pleased. When one of the police officers handed him a bag that contained two silver cards with the Silver Mask’s name on it, the bishop knew that Enrico’s day would only get worse.

            Meanwhile Enrico was still fuming about the attack on him last night. “I KNEW IT! IT WAS THAT WHORE!! SHE TRIED TO HAVE ME KILLED!!” The Cardinals gathered around said nothing for fear of Enrico’s wrath. Just then Cardinal Espada entered the office and said “You might want to see this Maxwell.” Just as Enrico was about to go off on Espada for his lack of respect, the Cardinal had turned on the TV and on it showed the contents of the secret sub-basement and the ‘attacks’ on the citizens of Italy. “This is on every channel and is streaming online. There is buzz all over the net claiming that the Vatican and the Iscariot Organization is behind these barbarities. Care to explain this Maxwell?” asked Espada. “Because judging from the expressions on these faces, none of us knew anything this terrible could be going on in the Vatican!”

“YOU WILL ADDRESS….”

“I WILL CALL YOU AS I SEE FIT!”  The normally mellow Spanish Cardinal’s outburst made everyone in the office start. “Do you know what you have done!? If this gets out, not only are you in danger, but every man that wears the collar of a priest! The people will riot or worse! Please tell me that this is some kind of prank!”

Just as Enrico was about to deny any wrongdoing, audio came on, it was a recording of the plot to kill the former Pope. All four dead Cardinals and Maxwell could be heard talking about hiring an assassin and black mailing Cardinals in the conclave. There were more recordings of Enrico and his cohorts detailing the assassination plan and even ways to pin it on Hellsing. But that was not the only recording. There was audio of the schemes of kidnapping day walkers and the use of a serum that caused them to go berserk. Everything that was meant to be a secret was now being streamed on television and the internet. Espada glared at the ‘Holy Father; “Sir Hellsing was right, she shouldn’t have let you live.”

“Was that a threat!?” bellowed Enrico “You know what happens to traitors!”

“How you can still be so high and mighty is beyond me. What you did was wrong! Not just wrong, but completely immoral! You are supposed to be the leader of the Catholic faith! There is nothing just about the deeds that you have done! May God have mercy on your soul!” Espada stormed out of the office. The other Cardinals stared at the door where Espada just left and then back at the seething ‘Holy Father’. After a couple moments, they all fled the office. They knew that in a couple of hours, it would not be prudent of them to be seen in public, if the citizens were to believe the footage. When Bishop Salvaggio entered the office, Enrico growled; “This had better be good news, that you caught the scoundrel Silver Mask.” The Bishop shook his head and said; “I’m sorry Your Holiness. Cardinals Romano and Bianchi were found dead at the Church of Saint Stephens this morning. They were both shot in the head. The Silver Mask left two more of his calling cards.”  
“GET OUT!!!”

The bishop couldn’t have left fast enough. Of course, he didn’t miss the footage on the TV. He knew that he would probably be the next target; it wouldn’t surprise him.

**London-Hellsing Manor**

Just as Integra had thought this Silver Mask search was a bust, Johansen hade burst into her office and showed her the footage that was streaming all over the internet. She had always known Maxwell could be a cruel man, but this was a new low. She had thought what he had done in London centuries ago was his lowest point, but somehow, he had proved he could go even lower. The footage got worse as new clips of the executions of ‘traitors’ were also added. Somehow Integra couldn’t help but feel that this was her fault as well. If she had put a bullet through his head when he first crawled up out of the grave, none of this would have happened. “Now don’t you start thinking nonsense like that, Sir!”

Integra looked up at the speaker, Colonel Stewart; “How…”

“It was written all over your face. Do not blame yourself. No one could have known that he would do this, Sir.”

“You’re wrong. I knew he be EXACTLY like this. How long has this been online, Johansen?”

“Since early this morning, Sir.”

There was nothing worse than waking up to the realization that your leader was a psycho killer.

“What now, Sir?” questioned the colonel.

Integra sighed: “We clean up yet another of the Iscariot Organization’s messes.”

“I’ll try and get in contact with Sam and let her know we’re on our way” said Johansen and he left the office. Integra stared out the windows for a couple minutes before saying; “Prepare the soldiers, we’re headed to the for Vatican City. I will personally escort Maxwell back to his grave.”

“What about the United Nations…”

“I am not waiting for what they have to say. By now they should have seen the same video and if they have any sense, they would stay out of my way!”

Colonel Stewart saluted; “Yes Sir!”

As Integra prepared to board on the helicopters bound for Italy, a Black Hawk bearing the emblem of the United Nations landed on one the helipads. One of the soldiers disembarked and made his way over to Integra. The commander decided not to make a fuss over the fact that the UN just trespassed on private property. The soldier barked; “I’m Captain Michael Daniels and I’m looking for Sir Integra Hellsing!”

“What do you want?”

“The UN wants to capture Enrico Maxwell, alive. None of the bullshit you did with Doctor Lazarus Thorton II.

“Bullshit? Is that what they are calling it? You are welcome to try and stop me.”

“This is to be a co-op mission between the Hellsing Organization and the United Nations. Your troops are to dispose of any vampires and mine are to capture Enrico Maxwell.”

Integra crossed her arms; “And when you capture Maxwell, where you will be taking him?”

“The UN has decided that is information you do not need to know, considering your lack of transparency with them.”

“The only thing I have to say is to take your ‘co-op mission’ and jump off the nearest bridge. I suggest London Bridge.”

“Your Prime Minister and the Queen has agreed to this.”

Integra chuckled; “You shouldn’t lie to me, child. Her Majesty would have told me about any ridiculous joint operations and even then, I would still think that it was ludicrous.”

Captain Daniels blinked, did she just call him ‘child’? She looked younger than him! “Look Sir Hellsing, I know you don’t think you answer to the UN, that’s why the Prime Minister and the Queen was informed of this co-op mission. It would be in your best interest to cooperate with the UN.”

The commander sighed and just as Captain Daniels thought that she would concede his point, Seras ran up to her and whispered something in her ear. Integra smiled and said to the captain; “Looks like I’m not the only person that want Enrico dead.”

“What is it? What happened? You have to tell me!”

As Integra made her way to her waiting helicopter, she called back; “If you are so intent on catching Enrico alive, you’d better hurry or you will end fishing for his body from the Tiber river.” The captain stood dumbfounded for a few seconds before boarding his own helicopter.

According to Seras, Sam had contacted Johansen telling him the citizens of Italy was not happy about what happened and what they saw in the footage thousands of people had stormed the Papal Palace and had dragged Enrico out. What they were going to do with him, she didn’t know. Also, she had informed the Intelligence officer that two more Cardinals had been found dead, killed by the Silver Mask. When Johansen had asked how the video was posted, seeing as Enrico would never have aired it. Sam reminded him of her ‘persuasion’ mind abilities, so she and the Silver Mask could just walk in to a studio without a fight. Now the whole world knew what kind of monster the Pope was. Integra had wanted to kill Enrico herself until she learned about the riots in the street of Rome. The more she thought about it, she knew that the people of Italy had decided to put him power and they had the right to take him out as they see fit. Enrico would be judged by the very people he victimized and if they saw that he was worthy of death, then so be it, she would not stand in their way- and neither would the UN. When the soldiers landed, they headed towards the Papal Palace to dispose of Enrico’s ‘collection’ and then make sure that the UN soldiers did not find Enrico. There were different types of justice as far as Integra was concerned and Enrico would receive it one way or another.

For Elsa, this was the best day of her life, the truth was finally out, Enrico Maxwell was not a godsend. He was not someone who cared about the people, all he cared about was power. Everything he did was to ensure power for himself. When the pamphlets; The Truth came out, Elsa was happy that someone else had seen through his façade. When she saw the video footage on an outdoor TV, she thought how ironic that the same screen that displayed Enrico’s ‘benevolence’, now showed his lies and atrocities. She was among the throngs of people who stormed the Papal Palace and dragged the disgraced Holy Father from his lush office. He was angry and screamed for guards to help him, but no one did. Cardinals and other personnel just stood and watched, many of them upset that they had been betrayed. Enrico had kept a very tight inner circle, so many of the other Cardinals had no idea what happened until that morning. He had been paranoid, not trusting anyone, but for the four now deceased Cardinals.

The first thing that the mob did to Maxwell was cut off that ridiculous ponytail he had. By the time, they were done with his head, it looked like a bunch of 5-year-olds had went at him with kid scissors. They then covered him in wet hot tar and dumped a load of pigeon feathers on top. This was known as ‘tar and feathering’, a form of public humiliation that dated back to the Middle Ages. If that was not enough or dated, Maxwell was then dragged through the streets while people hurled rotten food, rocks and insults at him. This event surprisingly (or not) had a bigger turnout than the week of festivities. As the people were in the middle of their mob justice, two fleets of military helicopters made their way into Vatican airspace, one bearing the Hellsing Organization emblem, the other the UN’s. A murmur went through the crowds. What could they want? Since there was a hideout full of monsters, it was obvious that Hellsing was headed there, but the UN was a different story. But those weren’t the only helicopters in the sky, several Italian news networks had choppers in the air to cover what would be one of the most important news coverage of the year.

While the Hellsing soldiers headed towards the hidden basement to destroy the captive Chimera and ghouls, the UN soldiers met resistance from Italian citizens and law enforcement alike. What was more surprising was that even soldiers from the Iscariot Organization were also helping the people keep the UN from getting to Enrico. This made Captain Daniels upset: “You knew this would happen, didn’t you Sir Hellsing?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“This is obstruction of justice….”

“No, this is obstruction of YOUR justice.”

“That is not the point! The UN wants…”

“I know what the UN wants, you can tell them that they are not going to get what they want.”

“Where are you going?”

“I have to see a certain former Pope.” 

One of the UN soldiers approached the captain and asked; “What do we do now?”

“We get to Enrico before that Hellsing woman does as all costs!”

This was humiliating! Did these idiots not know that everything he did was for God? Sure, great power came with the job, but that was just a bonus. He had tried to protect them from their own stupidity and because of some video on the internet, the people had turned against him. The lies of the Silver Mask had poisoned their minds and now they hurled rotten food and rocks at him. Speaking of which, Enrico winced as a rather large rock hit him in the cheek, opening a stinging gash. The thrower of the rock crowed with delight and high fived a couple of people around her. “You will pay for this humiliation!” Enrico yelled, this earned him a rotten egg in the mouth. The former Pope was led back to St. Peter’s Square where a scaffold was built. They were going to execute him! “You can’t! You can’t do this! I am your leader!” Enrico was hauled up the scaffold and chained to a pole that was erected. As Enrico gazed at the crowd, he saw the twisted angry faces of the same people that just a few days earlier had showered him praise flowers. When he got out of this mess, they would all pay! Pay for putting their dirty hands on him, pay for betraying him, pay for cutting his hair, pay for colluding with the Silver Mask and pay for sinning against God. He had seen the helicopters and thought that they had been sent to save him. Where were the soldiers of the Iscariot Organization? Why weren’t they storming in to protect their leader? Those bastards couldn’t have joined these traitors, could they? Just the former Prime Minister of Italy, Angelo Messi climbed the stairs followed by several armed men. He turned to the crowd and said “Good people of Italy, in our time of strife, we were desperate and in need of someone that had new ways of helping our economy. We were duped into believing that our ‘Pope’ could help and so elected him for our leader. We learned that it was a mistake and the truth had been uncovered by the entity known as the Silver Mask. We thank him for opening our eyes to this snake’s deception. Now we the people shall judge him according to his own laws!” The crowd cheered wildly, while Enrico struggled against his bonds. “You ingrate! You sin against God! How dare you do this to the Pope! I am a prophet!....” Enrico began babbling some stupid nonsense, because when you’re about to be killed that’s probably what one would do. Was there no one to save him? Would he die unimportant for a second time? As Enrico was giving up that anyone would come to his rescue, the crowd parted and his most hated enemy strolled up the platform steps.

            She watched as he was dragged through the streets by the angry mob. They threw all manner of refuse at him from stones to trash off the street. Whenever he stumbled and fell, they pounced on him like a pack of wild dogs on a wounded deer, kicking, scratching and punching, until more saner minds beat them back and the procession continued. They had cut off his ponytail and most of his hair, leaving bloody patches. They were not gentle at all. The tar and feathers made him look like a mangy pelican that had fell into a tar pit. Despite all this physical abuse, he still held his head high with a look of haughtiness. She wondered how one could still believe they were still right, when they were wrong. This look of arrogance only made the mob angrier. They wanted him to be repentant, they wanted him to be afraid. They wanted him broken and when he refused to give them the satisfaction, the mob became more riled up. Every so often, a random person, man or woman would go up to Enrico and strike him with a slap or a punch and several even spat on him. This reminded her of the journey Jesus took to Calvary, while carrying His cross. Perhaps that was why he kept his head held high, he probably likened his plight to that of Jesus. Knowing him, she would not be surprised. How typical of him. Soon the mob returned to St. Peter’s Square, where she saw a large platform had been built. At the center of the wooden platform, there was a thick cylinder pole with several metal rings and chains. It was to this structure that the mob bound their prisoner. He began to yell and rant at the crowd, damning their souls to the fiery pits of hell, most likely where he would proceed them. He screamed that they were making a huge mistake and that he would have his revenge. How sorry they would be that they had done this to their great and mighty leader. His arrogant façade was beginning to crack and the mass could see it. They started screaming for his death, offering up some ideas of how they thought he should be executed. As the former prime minister ascended the platform with a group of armed men, his violet eyes searched the angry mob for a friendly face or a savior to save him from his fate. He had began to babble nonsense as he realized that he would die and no one, not even the Iscariot Organization would deliver him. As she made her way to the platform, the crowd parted, opening a path. When he first saw he was surprised, he had not expected his worst enemy to be here, among the angry throngs. Her presence bolstered his courage a bit.

“Hellsing! What are you doing here?”

“Welcome back to earth, Icarus.”

“What?”

“I told you that when you came crashing back to earth, I would be there to put a bullet between your eyes.”

“Please….I’ll do anything….just get me….”

She pitied him, how could one be so blind? “Enrico, I’m not here to save you.”

The ex-pope’s eyes darted about; “But….but you have you! You can’t let me die!”

“Enrico, do you not have eyes? Look at the people in this crowd. These are the people you promised to help, the people you promised to lead, the people you promised to protect! You betrayed their trust when you took away even the basic right to express themselves. You have needlessly executed people for crimes that would be deemed foolishness in any normal government. Your idea of protecting these people was releasing twisted abortions among the populace and for what? Ego? Did you care so little about your duty, for your country and God? You ask me to save you, the only way I can think of saving you would be shooting you in the head right now to spare you from whatever torment that this crowd has in store for you.”

“I…I’ll change! I swear!”

Integra shook her head; “I’m afraid it’s too late for that. These people want to see justice done, for all the lives that you have taken so casually in the name of self-importance and they shall have it.” Integra descended the steps of the platform and disappeared into the crowd.

That evening Enrico Maxwell was sentenced to death for his crimes against the Italian people. He was to die by firing squad, his favorite form of execution for his prisoners. The execution was streamed live online, so the whole world could see the death of a monster. The UN squad made it in time to see Enrico exit this life with a bang or several bangs and to see the Hellsing Commander leaving the scene.

**Hellsing Manor**

**Suit:** <http://i.imgur.com/vfqy8EK.jpg>

When Integra reached back to headquarters, Philip said “You have four guests waiting for you in your office, Wan is with them right now.” Integra had a feeling that two of the visitors were from the UN, most likely the director Miyamoto and the Security Council’s president Obademi. The third she’d bet money was probably the Prime Minister Geoffrey Whitehall from the prestigious Whitehall family. The man’s exterior of a hard chiseled square jaw, sharp hazel eyes and thick layered dark blond hair did not match his meek personality. He stood a head above Integra and somehow managed to feel like he was only 2 feet when he was in the presence of the Hellsing commander. So, who was the fourth person? Integra saw everyone, just as she had predicted and the fourth person was sitting on the couch playing with Alucard who was in his hellhound form. “Your Majesty, stop playing with the dog, he hasn’t had his flea bath yet.”

“That is not very nice, Master.”

“Wow, Sir Integra, so this is what your office looks like, it’s as big as my private chambers. What does your private chambers look like?”

Integra raised her eyebrow as she sat down at her desk; “That is something you will never know, Your Majesty.”

Prime Minister Whitehall cleared his throat; “I’m sorry to interrupt Your Majesty, but we must attend to more pressing matters.”

“Sorry, you may begin.”

Whitehall turned to Integra and said sharply; “Sir Hellsing can you explain yourself?”

“Care to elaborate?”

“You know exactly what I mean. The co-op mission with the UN!”

“Hmm…I thought he was making that up….”

“I got a report saying you let Enrico get killed. Do you deny this?” demanded Miyamoto.

“No, what will denying it accomplish?”

“We wanted that man alive.”

“He was one of Dr. Thorton’s science experiments, I blame myself for not disposing of him sooner.”

The three leaders looked at each other, then Whitehall said; “In the future it would be appreciated if you can cooperate with the UN when it is necessary.”

Integra smirked; “I can only try.”

“By the way, would you happen to know where Enrico’s body is?” asked Obademi.

“Check the Tiber river.”

Just then Johansen walked in with a folder and was completely taken off guard by all the important people in the room.

“Johansen, it’s rude to stare at people with your mouth hanging open like that.”

“Oh sorry, Sir. I found out who the Silver Mask is with the DNA samples and fingerprints Sam sent. Also, Sam’s plane lands in 25 minutes.”

Integra flipped through the folder that Johansen left on her desk. Miyamoto, Obademi, and Whitehall looked expectantly at the Hellsing director.

“What?”

“Aren’t you going to share any information with us?” asked Miyamoto impatiently.

“I thought you came here to yell at me. Besides you have a body to find.”

“You just received information pertinent to this case.”

“Maxwell is dead, what case?”

“There is still an ongoing investigation of his inner circle.”

“They are all deceased, except for Bishop Andreas Salvaggio who turned himself over to Italian authorities. The members of the Iscariot Organization who had knowledge of Maxwell’s ‘collection’ are also giving their statements, so if you want anything else you probably should go to Italy.”

Obademi sighed; “The Silver Mask’s identity is intel, seeing he has killed four people.”

“Well the Silver Mask’s anonymity is vital to this organization.”

The president threw up his hands; “For what? What does he have to do with vampires? You know who he is!”

“His use for this organization is for me to know and if you’re lucky, maybe you will find out, someday.”

“So, nothing we say will convince you to share?” asked Whitehall “Even if Her Majesty commanded you to?”

“It’s not like you give the Hellsing Organization access to all of your information, Prime Minister Whitehall. So, it’s well within reason to let Sir Hellsing have her own” said the Queen. Integra could have laughed at the expressions on the three’s faces. They had thought that Her Majesty was so preoccupied with the dog, but she had been listening the whole time. “Besides” continued the young monarch “Sir Hellsing has proven that she is very capable at her duty, therefore she has my complete trust. I suggest that you do the same, instead of trying to micromanage someone that clearly has more experience in this business.”

“Well then, we should be going then, good night” said Whitehall. Wan escorted the three out of the office. “Shouldn’t you be going as well, Your Majesty?” asked Alucard.

“Oh no, my driver can wait for a few more minutes. Besides I like it here, I never knew that Sir Integra had beautiful home.”

“I can give you a tour, since my Master is moping” chuckled Alucard before an ashtray connected with his skull.

“I’m not moping, Alucard.”

The vampire king left with Charlotte in tow. Integra opened the folder again, it did not just contain information on the Silver Mask, but the names of all who had died during Maxwell’s regime, the youngest being a four-year-old boy. Now what the hell did a child do to deserve death? Integra did not get to contemplate that because Sam burst into office, slid across the desk scattering the papers and landing in the commander’s lap. “Hey Baby Cakes, ya missed me?”

“No, I did not. I actually liked having the whole bed to myself again.”

“Yes, you did. Are you enjoying this as much as I am?”

Seras entered the office overjoyed that Sam was back. “Hi Sam, why are you in Sir Integra’s lap?”

“Yes Sam, why are you in my lap?”

“You know you…”

“GET OFF!”

The Queen and Alucard returned to the office in time to see Sam scrambling off the irate commander.

“It sure is lively here” remarked Charlotte.

“If by lively, you mean a bloody daycare center then I agree” huffed Integra. But the commander gazed fondly as Seras and Sam played ‘keep away’ with Alucard’s hat. Philip sighed at the fact that he had to pick up scattered papers and tell three grown immortals that Integra’s office was not a playground. And it did not help that the Queen joined in on the antics, there were protests by the butler that a Queen did not behave in such manner, until Integra told Philip to leave Charlotte be, she rarely had a chance to do anything a normal 19-year-old should do.

Where was she? When Col. Stewart heard, the ruckus going on in Integra’s office, he thought that she was throwing a party, but found her pets and surprisingly Queen Charlotte in there. He checked the expansive library and the firing range, no Integra. He finally found her leaning against one of the large oak trees, staring up at the moon, a cigar forgotten in her hand.

“Still blaming yourself, Sir?”

The commander kept her eyes on the moon; “Maybe or possibly coming to the realization of what I have to deal with for an eternity.”

“Well you are young, so old age seems so far away. Eventually everyone will be paradise or hell.”

“I gave up paradise, to be here. This is my paradise and hell.”

“I don’t understand.”.

Integra took out a pen and scrawled something on the Colonel’s hand and before leaving said; “Perhaps that will help.” Col. Stewart looked at what was written on his palm, it was an address- to a cemetery.

**Epilogue- London Central Criminal Court of England and Wales (Old Bailey)**

The trial of the members of the Iron Grin for the attempted kidnapping of Her Majesty the Queen Charlotte Elizabeth Regina Windsor III was underway. Everyone in the courtroom knew that the trial was just a formality and that the last 15 members of the terrorist group would swing for treason against the Crown and country. The presiding judge Honorable Richard Masterson turned a stern eye towards the pitiful members and said: “For me, it is beyond comprehension how humans could betray humanity to commit crimes of such atrocity in the name of vampires. And to even entertain the thought of kidnapping Her Majesty and to carry it out proves that you are lacking in morals. I have no choice but to sentence all of you…”  
“Wait!”

Everyone turned towards the young Queen. “Please Judge Masterson, don’t have them executed!”

“But Your Majesty, they tried to….”

“I know what they tried to do, but don’t sentence them to death. Some of them are still children! Besides their leader is dead. For the last week, there have already been enough barbaric deeds and deaths. Please spare them, they have my forgiveness.”

Judge Masterson was conflicted, usually treason was punishable by death, but here was the Queen of England begging him to pardon these wretches for their crimes. She did have a point though and the ones to physically try and carry out the deed were dead. “Fine I sentence all of you to 25 years in a maximum-security facility. You have Her Majesty to thank for sparing your lives, you got far more than you deserved. This court is adjourned.” He banged the gavel ending the trial. The members hugged each other and cried. Outside the courthouse, reporters and the media eagerly awaited news on the outcome of the trial. As Charlotte settled into her car, she heard a voice say; “Showing mercy to you enemies may not be the wisest choice.”

“Sir Integra! How did you….never mind. I couldn’t watch them die, it would be too horrible.”

“And if someone else gets the bright idea to try and kidnap you again?”

“If they succeeded, they can hang and if not, they can live with that failure for the rest of their lives, while in prison.”

Integra smiled; “Well then I have nothing else to say. Good day, Your Majesty” and the commander left. Charlotte looked out the window as she was driven home. Maybe she was foolish for pardoning those Iron Grin members and sparing them from the death penalty. Maybe people would disagree, but she knew one thing, this was her decision and she would have to live with it for the rest of her life.

Meanwhile in a small cemetery on the outskirts of London, Col Lawrence Stewart stood in front of a headstone that read:

Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing

October 27 1977-September 10 2060

Lived in service to her Country, Queen and Church

 

The plaque above the text was an engraved photo that looked just like the current commander of the Hellsing Organization.

 

The End

 

**Author’s Notes: Well there you have it, the end of Wings of the Damned. I hope you enjoyed it. Right now, I am researching stuff for what may be part 3. I read somewhere that Integra’s birthday was on October 27, so I did not grab that date out my butt. If you can’t do the math like me, she dies at the age of 83 (not canon, but when she dies isn’t specified) and she dies fighting Super ghouls. I, personally do not think that Integra would die sick in bed like her father. I think she would go down fighting as Integra was willing to fight a whole horde of Nazi vampire soldiers with a sword, so why wouldn’t she die in a way befitting her character? So, I want to thank my reader (Shadowpyro13), and anyone else who read and enjoyed this fic. I’ll see y’all in the next one!**

 


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